A poll of three Country Liberal Party (CLP) held seats in the Northern Territory shows a dive in popularity for the ruling party.

The Newspoll published in the NT News shows the overall support for the CLP in the three seats of Blain, Brennan and Sanderson has dropped 22.7 per cent, to 36 per cent.

The seat of Blain is held by NT Chief Minister Terry Mills, while Sanderson is a key seat in Darwin's northern suburbs held by the CLP, and Brennan is a safe CLP seat held by Housing Minister Peter Chandler.

The poll of 437 voters between March 1-6 comes after an aborted leadership challenge to Mr Mills from Attorney-General John Elferink last month and finished on the day Transport Minister Adam Giles challenged Mr Mills on Wednesday.

The CLP performed badly in a recent by-election, where the ALP received almost 70 per cent of the two-party vote, and has come under fire for substantial spending cuts and power price rises.

But the poll showed voters still think Mr Mills would be a better chief minister than Labor leader Delia Lawrie.

The poll showed 38 per cent of voters thought Mr Mills was a better choice compared to 37 per cent who preferred Ms Lawrie, with 25 per cent uncommitted.