Our politics podcast sums up the state of play as National open up a lead in polling.

In polls, it’s the trend that matters. And the trend as far as Labour is concerned in the new Verian poll for 1News is sobering. January, post-Hipkins-bounce: 38%. March: 36%. May 35%. July: 33%. August: 29%. The incumbents looked galvanised by the result, but there will need to be some introspection, too. What is that trajectory down to, ask Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas: an unambitious Labour strategy, the state of the economy, or Christopher Luxon polishing his act?

Plus: we assess the campaign with just over 50 days to the election; David Seymour’s Guy Fawkes fantasy in relation to the Pacific People’s Ministry; and a glance at Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who is on course to become the youngest MP since James Frederick Stuart-Wortley in 1853.

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