Chris Hipkins, Labour’s new leader and who will be sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday, has a high-water mark of just 0.3 per cent in preferred PM polls.

The 44-year-old’s low profile is such that he often doesn’t register at all in the regular polling undertaken by TVNZ and polling agency Kantar.

On several occasions over the last five years, zero respondents among the 1000 surveyed have nominated Hipkins as their choice as national leader.

Hipkins began his leadership tour to the Kiwi public on Monday morning, conducting five back-to-back interviews with breakfast radio and television.

“I think New Zealanders will give me a fair hearing,” he told TVNZ’s Breakfast on his rapid-fire morning.

Hipkins said he’d never looked at his personal support.

“I don’t know where we’re starting (with my popularity) but I hope in time that people will see that I’m focused absolutely on the issues that they want me to be focused on,” he said.

“I’ve only just taken on this job. They will want to see what I’m going to do.”

The TVNZ-Kantar survey, conducted at least six times each year, asks 1000 Kiwis to name, unprompted, their preferred leader.

The number one choice in every poll dating back to the 2017 election has been Jacinda Ardern, polling between 30 and 63 per cent.

While it’s natural Labour supporters may not have been looking around for a different leader in that time, Hipkins’ rock bottom ratings present both a challenge and opportunity for party strategists, nine months out from a national election on October 14.

Under Ardern’s leadership, Labour won a thumping majority at the 2020 election with the highest single party vote in over 70 years.

Labour’s support had dropped in recent months, leaving centre-right opposition party National with a tight lead.

It remains to be seen whether the leadership transition – necessitated by Ardern’s resignation due to exhaustion – will improve or further erode Labour’s support.

Hipkins – a working-class DIY enthusiast known for his love of sausage rolls – told Kiwis that he was going to bring different qualities to the top job.

“I may probably not be as polished as Jacinda sometimes,” he said.

“She certainly thinks so when it comes to my dress sense and has told me that on a regular basis.

“We’re different people and we will have a different style and I’ll let New Zealanders judge that.”

In his five interviews, Hipkins declined to answer questions on policy changes, saying only he would honour Labour’s 2020 election promises and was working through those issues with colleagues.

Both Ardern and Hipkins have foreshadowed a “paring back” of government priorities and spending to adjust to harder economic times ahead.

That appears likely to include tax tweaks, with Hipkins acknowledging the difficulties facing working families.

The Remutaka MP, known for enjoying coke zero sugar, also made clear his views on soft drinks, telling Today FM, “I don’t know who on Earth in their right mind would drink Pepsi”.