ONE News Colmar Brunton poll: June 2007 

Labour has clawed back some lost ground in the latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll but National is still comfortably ahead.

Prime Minister Helen Clark desperately needed a lift in the polls and lately the view has been getting brighter for Labour.

Twenty hours free child care and the KiwiSaver scheme have been launched and Labour is certainly making a song and dance about it.

"It's so good Don Brash is becoming a KiwiSaver provider," Clark said.

But it hasn't all been good news. The Muliaga family paid a tragic price - with the death of a family member - for having their power cut. And there was more scrutiny about abuse of power in Fiji with the expulsion of New Zealand's High Commissioner.

But Clark manoeuvred herself into a strong position on both and the polls have come back a little for Labour.

National is still in front on 52 points, comfortably ahead of Labour on 36. The Greens are the only other party to make the 5% threshold, the Maori Party, New Zealand First and United Future all getting squeezed out by the major parties.

And the trend shows Labour claiming back some lost ground, up five points this month. National drops back four points, and there's little change among the minor parties.

National leader John Key had his first big trip to Washington but has been out of the frame a little bit recently.

He is still ahead in the preferred prime minister stakes though. Thirty five percent choose him to lead the country, 29% pick Helen Clark and Winston Peters is the only other politician to register.

Recent polls show Clark has picked up a few points and Key has dropped back.

What isn't dropping is the kiwi dollar which is still painfully high for exporters despite historic intervention by the Reserve Bank.

And just 31% of the poll's respondents believe the economy will get better. Twenty eight percent think it will stay the same and 41% predict it will get worse.

Optimism has been dropping and those with a negative outlook have been climbing.

Labour's outlook will be a little brighter after this poll but it is still behind National so feet will remain firmly on the ground.

The poll canvassed 1,000 voters and has a margin of error of 3.1%.