There's claims a rebounding economy could propel National to another election win.
But a former senior National staffer also says next year's election is looking like a toss-up.
The recent Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll has the party on just 29.6 percent - one of its lowest results since returning to Government.
Ben Thomas says that's not a good place to be.
"That is a psychological threshold - we used to be thinking that anything in the middle-low 30s was a disaster for a National Party leader."
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