LATEST POLL: Maori Party steal NZ First’s Kingmaker Crown while Winston dog whistles legal right to bash children
One News poll shows Maori party support but a drop for Bill English
The Maori Party has surged in support in the latest poll – which is the second in which Labour’s Jacinda Ardern rated higher as preferred Prime Minister than Andrew Little.
A One News Colmar Brunton poll released tonight also shows a drop in support for Bill English as preferred Prime Minister, and a pick-up in support for the Maori Party, up from 1 to 4 per cent.
National remains steady on 46 per cent, as do Labour (30 per cent) and the Green Party (11 per cent).
New Zealand First drops 3 per cent to 8 per cent support.
Some interesting results here, but the sudden jump in Maori Party support and collapse of NZ First looks more like a rogue poll than a genuine shift in political allegiances.
We here at TDB have heard for some time that NZ First are going to announce another bottom line before the election that will be they will refuse to join any Government that also includes the Maori Party, that would be damaging for the Maori Party and is a more likely an outcome now as NZ First thrash around desperately looking for a populist issue that resonates with the electorate.
While Winston can hope this is a rogue poll, NZ First haven’t had the continuing build up in numbers they should be getting.
It looks like NZ First have stalled as badly as the Greens have and this could be because Labour don’t look anywhere near as weak as they have in previous elections and that no collapse in Labour means NZ First have to steal National voters this time around. This seems to be Winston’s plan at the moment because if you go back over the last couple of weeks, Winston has been like a deranged conservative dog barking at anything it thinks is a moving car.
Remember when Winston fired up about an advert asking for someone who could speak Chinese? Remember when Winston fired up about allowing families to get pissed at the races? And now Winston is dog whistling about allowing parents the legal right to bash their kids.
He’s all over the show which is starting to smell like desperation.
Expect the bottom line against the Maori Party to be dropped soon, Winston can’t risk losing his Kingmaker role or he becomes politically irrelevant.
I think NZ First need urgently to decide if they are going to invite Shane Jones along. His inclusion may attract some votes they wouldn’t otherwise get, but at the cost of much traditional support. I think they are bleeding support now because of the doubt inspired in NZ F commitment to their traditional philosophy that the prospect of his involvement inspires.
D J S
Shane Jones in NZF would be the death knell of NZF…he is a Nact imo
The only poll I believe in is the General Election.
I saw that as a former Colmar Brunton Employee!
I’m having trouble with the nuancing behind “Remember when Winston fired up about allowing families to get pissed at the races?”
I’ve just read the piece. My interpretation was that Mr Peters was supporting the West Coast stance.
Look: it’s election year. If Labour can trot out the new filly, and National puts the old wethers through the dip before they go to the works – what’s so wrong with the mutt barking at passing cars?