Thursday, 16 October 2014
National Slips, Labour Hits Lows
National fail to get post-election bounce but leaderless Labour Party crash to lowest ever support
The first New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll since the NZ Election shows National (43.5%, down 3.54% since the September 20
Election). This isn’t unusual, National support has dropped after each of John Key’s Election victories. Support for
Key’s Coalition partners has changed little overall with the Maori Party 2% (up 0.68%), Act NZ 0.5% (down 0.19%) and
United Future 0.5% (up 0.28%).
However, support for the main opposition Labour Party has crashed to 22.5% (down 2.63% and the lowest support for Labour
since the 1914 NZ Election as United Labour). Fellow opposition parties the Greens (17.5%, up 6.8% are at a new record high) while NZ First support is 7% (down 1.66%). The Greens need to work out why their support on Election Day was lower
than all the major polls indicated.
For the parties outside Parliament the Conservative Party of NZ is 5% (up 1.03% a new record high level of support) while the Internet-Mana Party alliance is at 1% (down 0.42%) and support for Independent/ Others is 1% (up 0.15%).
If a National Election were held now the latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows that the result would be too close to
call.
The latest NZ Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is virtually unchanged at 137pts (down 1pt) with 61.5% (down 0.5%)
saying NZ is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 24.5% (up 0.5%) that say NZ is ‘heading in the wrong
direction’. The NZ Government Confidence Rating remains substantially higher than in Australia – Australian Government Confidence last week was at 99pts.
Gary Morgan, Executive Chairman, Roy Morgan Research, says:
“Prime Minister John Key led National to a convincing election victory a month ago with National increasing its seats in
Parliament despite a slight drop in support compared to the record high 2011 New Zealand Election result under the MMP
system.
“National (43.5%, down 3.54% since the NZ Election) has failed to gain any post-election boost in support although this
is not unusual – National support has now fallen immediately after all three election victories. Coalition partners Act
NZ and United Future both retained their seats while the Maori Party lost a seat meaning the Government once again
controls 64 seats in the 121 seat Parliament.
“After crashing to its worst election result in 92 years – since the 1922 NZ Election, a now leaderless Labour Party has
dropped to only 22.5% support (down 2.63% since the NZ Election) – the lowest level of support for Labour since it
contested the 1914 NZ Election as ‘United Labour’. The next month promises more pain for Labour before the selection of
a new Labour Leader on November 18. After David Cunliffe’s withdrawal from the race this week the leadership contest is
now a four-way fight between Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson, interim leader David Parker, Hauraki-Waikato MP
Nanaia Mahuta and List MP Andrew Little.”
Electors were asked: “If a New Zealand Election were held today which party would receive your party vote?” This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile
telephone, with a NZ wide cross-section of 927 electors from September 29 – October 12, 2014. Of all electors surveyed
2% (down 3%) didn’t name a party.