Labour Gaining Ground

The latest Herald-DigiPoll shows resurgence in support for Labour, at the expense of National. Support for National has dropped 4.6 points to 49.9-percent, while Labour has picked up 2.8 points to 39.3-percent. Of course most, if not all, of National’s drop in support can be attributed to John Key’s poor performance this month, and The Herald states March as being:

“…a month memorable for slip-ups and lackluster performances by leader John Key.”

On the other hand, Labour’s approach under the pragmatic leadership of Helen Clark has simply been to get on with governing, and the progressive release of policy seems to have paid off. As The Herald says, March has involved:

“…carefully designed publicity hits for the Government, including a snap move to try to keep strategic assets such as Auckland Airport in New Zealand control.”

Certainly, Helen Clark has always maintained that the gap between Labour and National will close once either party begins releasing policy, and one expects that gap to continue closing over the next few months.

In the preferred PM stakes things are much tighter, with Key on 45.9-percent and Clark on 45.6-percent. It is quite interesting that, while National seem to have a clear edge over Labour at the moment, the public aren’t at all sure about the leadership of John Key. I suspect this is what is going to hurt National come the election.

In the minor parties, The Greens dropped half a point to 3.9-percent; NZ First is down 1 point to 1.1-percent; The Maori Party picks up 2.2 points, taking them to 3.7-percent; Act gains 0.7 points to 1.1-percent; and United Future doesn’t register.

Labour will certainly take some solace from this latest poll, and will give them momentum to keep the heat on Key, and force him to have more months like March.   

  

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