WAATEA NEWS COLUMN: The rise of TOP can take pressure off Te Pati Māori

Something very interesting occurred in the Polls this week that could finally produce some breathing space for Te Pati Māori to be able to heal and refocus without the intense glare of the media for this years election.

TOP has moved ion the Roy Morgan Poll to 4% and has a .5 momentum upwards in the most recent TU Poll.

The Blue/Green voters of National are turned off by the race baiting of Seymour and the Culture War spite of NZFirst.

As National disintegrates into the 20s, more Blue/Green National voters will turn to TOP, which is a trend in Australia with the Teal Party.

The reason Te Pati Māori has had such intense mainstream media attention is because no Poll shows Labour +Green = 51%. It has required te Pati Māori in every Poll. Their implosion has given the right political ammunition to paint Labour + Green + MP as unstable.

If TOP get over the 5% threshold however, 51% is then Labour +Green + TOP. That new alignment and MMP math takes the critical media attention away from internal Te Pati Māori machinations which they must seize to reset the narrative.

Looking back over the distress this civil war inside Te Pati Māori has created must be an examination of how social media allowed the disputes and disagreements to erupt into the bitterness it has.

Te Pati Māori must take this opportunity while the media pressure is off them to at least agree to no more social media fights even just for the sake of the perception of unity because there still is a chance here for Te Pati Māori to have influence in the 26 Election.

If they can trigger an MMP overhang they can argue to have a place at the table of any new Labour/Green/TOP Government.

This is a change of luck that they must use to stamp their own story brand into place for the Election.