-
Watch Video
-
Related
There is a clear message for Labour leader Phill Goff and Maori Party MP Hone Harawira in the latest ONE News Colmar-Brunton poll.
Phil Goff was accused of playing the race card this week in a desperate bid for media attention, but that was before he had seen the results of the latest Colmar-Brunton poll.
Perhaps now really is the time to push the panic button as Phil Goff's rating as preferred Prime Minister have been cut in half.
Goff was at 9% in the last Colmar-Brunton poll but he has dropped to 5% this time around as more than 10 times that proportion of voters want John Key as Prime Minister.
The poll was taken before Phil Goff warned that issues like the seabed and foreshore could be taking us on the road to racial division.
"Where one New Zealander is turned against another Maori against Pakeha in a way that my political party stands strongly against," says Goff.
Whether attacking the relationship between National and the Maori party lifts Labour's ratings remains to be seen but it has had plenty of opportunities.
A treaty deal for iwi under the emissions trading scheme and the ongoing saga of Hone Harawira has put race relations in the spotlight.
But National remains unscathed still on 53%, Labour slips back to 31%, the Greens bounce back to 7%, the Maori Party's on 3% and ACT on 2%.
Translating that to seats in Parliament gives National 66, Labour 38 and the Greens eight seats. Assuming electorate seats are held the Maori Party would have five, ACT three and United and the Progressives one seat each.
National has been pushing international trade deals this month as it claims those will boost the economy and voters are generally feeling better about our economic fortunes.
An overwhelming 68% expect the economy to improve over the next year, 16% percent say it will stay about the same and 16% believe things will get worse.
Meanwhile, the poll makes uncomfortable reading for the Maori Party and it's troubled MP Hone Harawira with 77% saying that Harawira's abusive email to a party supporter was racist (61% of Maori respondents also thought the email racist) and 69% say that he should leave parliament as a consequence.
A decision on Hone Harawira's fate has been put off until Tuesday, but it looks increasingly like that he will return to the Maori party fold after the leadership initially indicated they wanted him to leave the party.
What do you think about the results of the latest poll? Have your say on our messageboard below.
