By Patrick Gower
John Banks and the ACT Party are in trouble in Epsom, according to a poll out tomorrow.
The National Business Review survey of voters found almost 40 percent have already decided to vote for National’s Paul Goldsmith.
It is not far short of twice the number going for Banks in the electorate that ACT is pinning its hopes on – and likely to determine if he gets back into Parliament.
But Banks is putting on a brave face.
“They’ll vote for me, I think. I’m not taking anything for granted,” he told 3 News.
The numbers clearly show Banks on 24 percent, with Goldsmith on 37.
Although the old trooper doesn’t want to believe it.
“It’s a deeply blue National seat 364 days of the year and one day every three years the people of Epsom vote strategically,” says Banks.
But the poll shows Epsom are getting sick of going yellow for ACT and they say the Don Brash takeover has failed – big time.
- 47 percent say it has “worked out poorly”
- 30 percent say it has made “no difference” to the Rodney Hide political trainwreck
- Just 14 percent say it has “worked out well”
This wasn’t the plan at all; John Key and National set Goldsmith up to fail.
Epsom is ACT’s political lifeline; the two or three seats ACT could get with it could be vital to Key.
The polling even shows that Labour’s candidate David Parker, on 17 percent, is closing in on Banks.
Parker says Banks’ time is up.
“They don’t want a bar of him,” he says.
Yet if Key actually orders the people of Epsom to “vote Banks”, then everything changes.
If John Key says “vote Banks”:
- Banks gets 43 percent
- Goldsmith drops to 25 percent
That’s why handshakes like this are so important to Banks.
3 News