The minor parties continue to fight to stay above the Parliamentary support threshold in the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll – while ACT’s strong result sees leader David Seymour struggling to name all his potential MPs.
Minor party support in the latest poll:
ACT: 8% (no change)
Green Party: 6% (down 1%)
New Zealand First: 2% (up 1%)
The Opportunities Party: 2% (up 1%)
New Conservative: 1% (no change)
Advance New Zealand: 1% (no change)
If the results were to reflect election night, ACT would bring in 11 MPs.
ACT’s leader David Seymour struggled to name the 10 candidates that could potentially enter Parliament – getting it right on the third attempt.
He told 1 NEWS he was distracted by a nearby car.
"Everyone ultimately wants to be in government, but I know having a genuinely independent team to hold them accountable is worth it - no matter which side the cookie crumbles,” Seymour said.
The Green Party fell 1% in support since last week’s poll, down to 6%.
"I'd be comfortable with a few more points than that, obviously,” co-leader James Shaw said.
"If we slip below the five percent threshold, then there is a very real risk that one party could end up running the government all by themselves,” he said.
Labour remained steady on 47 per cent while National fell one per cent to 32. (Source: Other)
NZ First rose to 2.4%.
Winston Peters said there was “a surge on as you well know, stand back and watch".
Peters said he thought Covid-19 had impacted campaigning.
“It’s harmed a lot of parties' chances; it has been preferential to some parties without me pointing to the obvious.”
The 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll also found voters are happy to keep the 5% Parliamentary threshold as it is.
The Opportunities Party, which saw a small bump in the poll, want the threshold set at 3% - but voters do not agree.
The 5% threshold to get into Parliament is ‘about right’, most voters say in the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll.
A political party needs to either win an electorate seat or gain 5% of the party to enter Parliament.
Judith Collins maintains the race is still open, with 13 per cent of those polled undecided or not wanting to say. (Source: Other)
Sixty-eight per cent agree the 5% threshold is ‘about right’, 15% think it is ‘too low’, 10% think it is ‘too high’ and 8% don’t know.
The question around Parliament’s party threshold was also asked in February 2019 – where 64% then thought it was about right, 13% thought it was too low, 12% thought it was too high and 11% didn’t know.
The groups of people who are more likely than average (68%) to think the threshold is about right are Labour Party supporters and New Zealand Europeans.
Between October 3-7, 2020, 1007 eligible voters were polled by landline (405) or mobile phone (602). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. For Party Support, percentages have been rounded up or down to whole numbers.
The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, ethnic identification and mobile or landline access.
SHARE ME