Labour leads Maori Party in Tainui 

Labour has a solid lead over its nearest rival the Maori Party in the Tainui electorate, according to the latest Marae DigiPoll survey of voters.

Labour had just over 44 per cent support, the Maori party about 36, and New Zealand First was on 10 per cent.

About 58 per cent said they supported Labour's candidate Nanaia Mahuta compared with just over 33 per cent for the Maori Party's Angeline Greensill.

Voters named education, treaty issues, health, unemployment, taxes and welfare as their most important concerns.

The survey of 400 voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 per cent.

In April, a poll of Maori voters showed that if an election was held then, four of Labour's six Maori MPs would lose their seats.

Those to go would have include John Tamihere and his close friend Dover Samuels.

The poll commissioned by TVNZ's Marae programme claimed Tamihere and some of his colleagues were lagging far behind their Maori Party opponents.

At the time Labour condemned the poll as having too small a sample size to be valid, with Labour Party president Mike Williams labelling it as "somewhat close to snake oil".

Labour is commiting five times the extra funding this election for its campaign for the Maori seats.