National rebounds in latest poll

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern appears to have hit a speed bump in the latest Newshub Reid Research poll as National's Bill English claws back ground to get up to 47 percent.

The poll had National up four points from a week ago to 47.3 percent while Labour was down slightly on 37.8 percent.

It is a stark contrast from the 1News Colmar Brunton poll last Thursday night which had Labour steady on 43 percent from the week before while National had slipped to four points behind on 39.

The poll was bad news for the Green Party which was down below the vital five percent threshold on 4.9 percent - just too low to return to Parliament if the election night results is the same.

NZ First had also slipped a bit to six percent.

The last Newshub poll in early September had National still ahead but starting to slip on 43.3 percent while Labour was up to 39.4 percent. English's personal support was also rising at that point - he had moved up to 30.1 percent as preferred PM but Ardern was almost even on 29.9 percent.

Both NZ First and the Green Party had both dropped further to 6.6 percent and 6.1 percent as the squeeze from the contest between the two big parties took effect.

Early voting began on Monday, adding extra urgency to the campaigns of both National and Labour. Ardern was quick to get at least one vote in the bag - casting her own vote in Mt Albert today and encouraging others to do the same.

Both leaders have been saying they believe the election will be a close-run thing as the poll gap closed.

Tonight's poll follows a concerted attack by National over the lack of clarity in Labour's tax policy. That had led to Ardern ruling out any changes in income taxes and on Monday ruling out any inheritance tax - but she is otherwise sticking to her position not to decide on tax changes until after a Tax Working Group if in Government.

There was also controversy over National Finance spokesman Steven Joyce's attempt to discredit Labour's fiscal plan by claiming an $11.7 billion hole in it.

That was dismissed by several economics commentators, but English has continued to back Joyce and pointed out that once extra money is put into health and education there is very little left for other areas of Government spending.

The Newshub Reid Research poll surveyed 1000 voters, 750 by telephone and 250 by internet panel. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.