Despite National's recent turmoil, the latest poll suggests the opposition party could form the next government with the right partner, and while ACT is the obvious pairing, over half of those polled want the Greens to keep an open mind.

Figures from the 1News Kantar Public poll released on Monday show Labour support at just 33%, the lowest in five years.

And while National's approval of 37% has also fallen since May, ACT’s rating is up by four points to 11%, leaving the two in a prime position to form a government.

READ MORE: Poll - ACT jumps and can form Govt with National, Ardern and Luxon slip

However, while such an alliance seems likely, National could theoretically, instead extend their hand towards the Greens, who now sit at 9%.

And while the idea may seem strange to some, it may work in the opposition’s favour come election time, with 54% of the voters polled reporting they were in favour of the idea.

Even among Green supporters, 38% said they were interested.

Former Greens MP Kevin Hague says the idea is far from new, something debated by the party roughly every three years.

“The common ground just was never enough for the Greens to say actually this is a real possibility.

“Every smaller party has talked about the dead rats they've had to swallow the downside of that arrangement and whether the gains have been worth it.”

National leader Christopher Luxon, for his part, didn't dismiss the notion.

“We're not going to get into the electoral calculations, but National is deeply committed to net carbon zero 2050.”

And Green co-leader Marama Davidson says she’s open to discussion.

“They're a long way away but we're open to working with anyone who comes and sits with us and our priorities.”

But says the arrangement is unlikely to gain member approval.

“They are not open to us working with any political parties whose values are so far apart from where we are.”

Green MP Chloe Swarbrick said the pairing would require National to “change next to all of their policies.”

Between July 30 and August 3, 2022, 1023 eligible voters were polled by mobile phone (504) and online, using online panels (519). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, education level and ethnic identification. The sample for mobile phones is selected by random dialling using probability sampling, and the online sample is collected using an online panel.