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Labour would be able to govern alone, based on the results of the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll.

But the party has dropped five points to 48 percent since July.

National has also dropped further to 31 percent.

The first public political poll in two months landed tonight ahead of the first election debate between Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins.

The poll is good news for the Act Party, which has gone up again to 7 percent, while NZ First is still languishing at 2 percent.

The Green Party is on 6 percent.

Of parties outside Parliament, the New Conservatives are at 2 percent, TOP, the Māori Party and Advance NZ on 1 percent.

The results would give Labour 62 seats in October's election, meaning it could govern alone.

As preferred PM, Jacinda Ardern was on 54 percent - holding her high popularity from June. Judith Collins had dropped slightly from 20 to 18 percent.

Tonight's 1 News Colmar Brunton poll gives the state of play for the parties just before the TVNZ Leaders Debate.

David Seymour and Winston Peters were on 2 percent

Ardern told 1 News she was pleased with the result.

"Regardless, we will not be complacent."

Collins had refused to be interviewed for the poll.

National's campaign chair and deputy leader said Collins was busy preparing for the TVNZ leaders debate.

Deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said Collins was getting a good reception from the public in the campaign.

The poll ran from Thursday until Monday night - taking in National's tax cuts announcement on Friday.

In the last polls, Labour had a massive lead over the Covid-19 lockdown periods. This latest poll considers whether the second outbreak has hurt it, and whether Collins and National's tax cut policy have had any impact on National's fortunes.

The last 1 News Colmar Brunton poll was at the end of July – a fortnight after Collins took over the leadership of National and before a second outbreak of Covid-19 in Auckland on August 11.

That resulted in a return to a level 3 lockdown for Auckland and level 2 restrictions for the rest of New Zealand.

In that poll, Labour was on 53 percent and National was down at 32 percent while the Green Party and Act were at 5 percent and NZ First at 2 percent.

As preferred Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was on 54 percent, and Judith Collins on 20 percent.

The fate of the smaller parties is also in the balance as NZ First and the Green Party struggle to get over the 5 percent of votes they will need to get back into Parliament.

The polling period came as National announced its policy for temporary tax cuts last Friday.

That policy will give workers between $8 and $58 a week more for a period of 16 months from December – at a cost of $4.7 billion to the Government in foregone revenue.

It is also the first poll since more detailed information on the economic impact of Covid-19 has come out.

That included the news of a 12.2 percent drop in GDP for the second quarter of the year and forecasts of high deficits and debt levels for a decade in the Pre-Election Fiscal Update.