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Labour leader Phil Goff -
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The Labour Party has had a boost in popularity despite the public spat over renegade MP Chris Carter, according to the latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll.
The poll shows both Labour and its leader Phil Goff have increased in popularity, after a tough month with Chris Carter's secret letters undermining Goff.
National faced controversies of its own with a U-turn on plans for more mining on national parks. The government's decision to drive through changes to employment law also drew controversy, upsetting unions by extending the 90-day job trial law to cover all workers.
However, when it came to the poll results, National remained untouched, with 49% of those polled seeing them as the preferred party.
Labour increased in support, up two points to 35%; the Greens remained steady on 7%; while Act and the Maori Party sat around 2%.
National would have 61 seats in parliament on those numbers, Labour 44 and the Greens nine. Assuming electorate seats were held, the Maori Party would have five seats, Act three and United Future and the Progressive Party one seat each.
The Carter crisis had seen questions raised about the strength of Goff's leadership, but according to the polls he was up three points to 9% as preferred Prime Minister.
John Key remained in the lead, despite slipping one point to 45%.
It was not all good news for Goff however with only 24% of people polled saying he can win the election and 64% saying no he can't. Of Labour voters polled 47% said he could lead the party to a win but 39% say he can't.
