National strong in polls
The latest political polls show National holding on to high levels of support, unscathed by a string of mini-scandals from BMWs to the ill-advised cat walking.
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The latest political polls show National holding on to high levels of support.
TVNZ-Colmar Brunton and 3News polls last night showed National was unscathed despite its proposal to partially sell state-owned assets.
In the TVNZ poll, National support was at 51 percent, down 4 points, while in the 3News poll, party support was at 54.6 percent, down 0.9 points.
More than 1000 eligible voters were interviewed for the TVNZ poll from February 12 to 16. The margin of error was 3.1 percent.
Labour was unchanged at 33 percent and but the Greens surged from 4.5 percent in December to 8 percent.
New Zealand First was up 0.5 of a percentage point, to 3.6 percent.
The TVNZ poll also showed the ACT Party made a slight comeback, with support up from 0.9 to 1.3 percent, while the Maori Party barely moved at 2.3 percent.
The 3News poll showed Labour support dropping 0.3 points to 30.9 percent but again the Greens increased, to 8.2 percent.
NZ First rose 1.4 points to 3.3 percent -- a level of support not seen in the poll since mid to late-2008.
The Maori Party was up 0.6 to 2.3 percent, ACT was down 0.7 points to 0.6 percent and United Future did not rate.
The 3News poll interviewed 1000 eligible voters.
Prime Minister John Key was still first choice for prime minister in both political polls, despite taking an 8-point hit in the TVNZ poll to 48 percent.
Labour leader Phil Goff got 7 percent of the support, NZ First's Winston Peters 3 percent and former Labour prime minister Helen Clark 2 percent.
The 3News poll also had Mr Key shedding support as preferred prime minister, down 5 points to 49.1 percent, while Mr Goff was flat at 6.8 percent.
Mr Peters went up almost 2 percentage points to 4.9, and Ms Clark sat at 3.8 percent.
Sixty percent opposed National's plan to sell assets, according to the 3News poll.
The TVNZ poll shows 57 percent agreed with Mr Key's decision not to work with Mr Peters, while 34 percent believed it was a mistake.
NZPA and NBR staff
Mon, 21 Feb 2011
Mon, 21 Feb 2011
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National strong in polls
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