(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The opposition National party remains ahead in the final stages of New Zealand’s electoral campaign, according to a poll by Colmar Brunton released by One News. 47 per cent of respondents would back National in this month’s legislative election, while 35 per cent would vote for the governing Labour party.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The opposition National party remains ahead in the final stages of New Zealand’s electoral campaign, according to a poll by Colmar Brunton released by One News. 47 per cent of respondents would back National in this month’s legislative election, while 35 per cent would vote for the governing Labour party.
The Greens are third with eight per cent, followed by the Maori Party and New Zealand First both with three per cent, and ACT with two per cent. Support for National fell by three points since mid-October, while backing for Labour dropped by one point.
Labour leader Helen Clark has acted as New Zealand’s prime minister since December 1999. In November 2006, Don Brash—who had served as National’s leader since October 2003—announced his resignation and was substituted by finance spokesman John Key.
In the September 2005 ballot, Labour elected 50 lawmakers to the 121-seat House of Representatives, and assembled a coalition government with the Progressives. United Future and New Zealand First agreed to support the administration in confidence and supply votes for three years. National finished second, with 48 legislators.
On Oct. 31, Key discussed the race, saying, "I hope to be the next National prime minister of New Zealand. I am simply pointing out that New Zealanders are going to face some genuine circumstances potentially over the next couple of years where they may lose their job (and) they’ve got quite high expenses."
The next legislative election will take place on Nov. 8.
Polling Data
Thinking about the Party Vote, which is for a political party, which political party would you vote for?
|
Oct. 23 |
Oct. 16 |
Oct. 9 |
|
|
National |
47% |
50% |
51% |
|
Labour |
35% |
36% |
33% |
|
Green |
8% |
5% |
8% |
|
Maori Party |
3% |
2% |
2.8% |
|
New Zealand First |
3% |
2% |
2.6% |
|
ACT |
2% |
2% |
1.6% |
|
Progressives |
– |
– |
0.3% |
|
United Future |
– |
– |
0.1% |
Source: Colmar Brunton / One News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 New Zealand voters, conducted from Oct. 18 to Oct. 23, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
