National and Act can govern alone but Winston Peters is also back in Parliament, according to the latest political poll.

Tonight’s 1News Verian poll has National on 37 per cent - down two points on their previous poll - and Act up two points to 12 per cent. The two parties would get 46 and 15 seats respectively - just enough to reach a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Parliament.

The poll also reveals yet another pathway back for NZ First and party leader Winston Peters, reaching the 5 per cent threshold and potentially delivering the party six.

It is still not good news for Labour, however, with the party dropping another point to 27 per cent and delivering just 34 seats. The Greens are up two points to 12 per cent and 15 seats while the other potential left-bloc party Te Pāti Māori is steady on 3 per cent and returning four seats.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National’s Christopher Luxon continue to be neck and neck in the preferred prime minister stakes at 23 per cent each.

David Seymour is next at five per cent and Winston Peters is the next highest on four per cent.

The last was published a week ago, which had National on 39 per cent - up two percentage points on the previous poll in August - and Act on 10 per cent, which was down three points.

On those numbers, National would have got 49 of the 120 seats in the House. Together with Act’s 13, the two parties would surpass the 61-seat majority needed to govern.

In that poll, Labour had dropped one point to 28 per cent from the previous poll in August, while the Greens were on 10 per cent and Te Pāti Māori three per cent.

Winston Peters’ New Zealand First meanwhile hit the 5 per cent threshold to enter Parliament, up one point from the last poll.

The poll was previously conducted monthly but is now being done weekly in the lead-up to the October 14 election.

The latest polling period will likely cover off the major scrutiny over National’s tax numbers, and the first two weeks of campaigning for political parties.

The previous poll also had Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National leader Christopher Luxon tied for preferred prime minister on 23 per cent. It followed a Newshub poll which also had the pair equal as preferred PM.

It comes after the leaders of the two largest parties squared off for the first TVNZ leaders’ debate on Monday night.

Hipkins said he backed using ethnicity to reduce health inequities for Māori, saying there’s nothing to be afraid of and opposing parties are using “race-baiting politics”.

Luxon said health services and access had to be based on need, not race.

“I’m not afraid of anything,” he retorted to Hipkins.

The pair clashed in a sometime-prickly encounter, canvassing an array of issues such as law and order, the economy, tax, potential coalition arrangements and the Covid-19 response.

Back on the campaign trail today, Hipkins visited the cyclone-hit regions of Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay today, while Luxon was in rural south Auckland on a goat farm before heading to Invercargill.