John Key's ratings on the rise as preferred PM

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Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:00a.m.

The National Government continues to enjoy huge support around the country

The National Government continues to enjoy huge support around the country

By Duncan Garner

Labour leader Phil Goff’s part is going backwards, and he has slumped in the preferred Prime Minister ratings.

The National Government continues to enjoy huge support around the country, and Prime Minister John Key’s personal ratings have also risen.

National is up 2.1 percent to 58.1, which gives them a commanding 72 seats in Parliament.

Labour is down 0.8 to 29.2, the Greens pick up some of that and move to 7.5 percent.

The rest make up the numbers – Act is down to 1.4 percent, the Maori party is 1.2, Winston Peters’ New Zealand First has a few diehards left at 1 percent, but Peter Dunne has even fewer – just 2 people out of 1,000 say they will vote for United Future.

In the preferred Prime Minister stakes John Key is up to 51.5, a commanding lead over New York-based Helen Clark who drops back to eight but still ahead of Phil Goff – who glides to 6.5 percent.

Winston Peters – wherever he may be – is up to 2.6 percent.

But it is National’s numbers that continue to be remarkable. Despite the sharp rise in unemployment, no one is blaming Key or his Government.

So good numbers for National. More remarkable, given we polled in the week Finance Minister Bill English was outed for his part in the housing allowance saga, which saw him pay back around $14,000.

So the trick for Goff now is to just try and ride this out.

The major criticism I have with Goff, is that he is always in such a hurry – you wonder if he actually realises he is in opposition some days, and not the Government.

I do not believe Goff is under serious threat as Labour’s leader – no one wants the job right now and it really is a poisoned chalice at this stage.

But tomorrow night in the second part of our poll we have asked voters, if Goff was to be replaced, who should be the new leader?

It throws up some interesting names and numbers.

Watch 3News tomorrow night for all the details.

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Comments

28 Sep 2009 01:32p.m.

Paul kIrby wrote:

John Key needs to be kicked out of office. He does not represent the interests of the people. He should never had send the SAS to Afghanistan. I hope Labour party takes back New Zealand.

18 Aug 2009 11:31a.m.

NEW FACE. SAME POLITICS wrote:

I can see why John Key's ratings are so high, he seems like a genuinely nice guy and a 'fresh' face. whereas although Goff is hard-working and nice too, he is 'old Labour' and had a huge task trying take over Helen Clark's legacy as a strong leader. But really at the end of the day what matters is not the leaders but the Government as a whole and unfortunately the 'new' National govt is pretty much the same old guys from the 90's. NZ faces huge challenges like the reccession and climate change but their policies have proven to be lacklustre. oh and they also backtracked on their major election policy that got them in - tax cuts. Oh well, lets see how it pans out...

18 Aug 2009 07:30a.m.

Warren Ng wrote:


Why Poll not say how many Political Parties seats are rise and fall yet?

17 Aug 2009 10:26p.m.

Frogger wrote:

I'm so sick of this Goff bashing zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

17 Aug 2009 12:20p.m.

Fairfacts Media wrote:

Look like Fail Gaffe is the dog to be served up at Liarbour's next BBQ!!

17 Aug 2009 11:34a.m.

cherie wrote:

Keep going you lot.
The more you tell the people of this country that they are "dumb" and "idiots" the more us dumb idiots turn our backs on the nasty, venomous sore looser's that you all seem to be and instead sit back and realise that yes indeed we are in a recession, yes indeed the other lot left a mess to clean up and yes we will ride it out with the whole country's well being in mind and thank god we weren't lead by such poisons little people the Labour party and their sore loosing supporters have become.

17 Aug 2009 11:33a.m.

cherie wrote:

Keep going you lot.
The more you tell the people of this country that they are "dumb" and "idiots" the more us dumb idiots turn our backs on the nasty, venomous sore looser's that you all seem to be and instead sit back and realise that yes indeed we are in a recession, yes indeed the other lot left a mess to clean up and yes we will ride it out with the whole country's well being in mind and thank god we weren't lead by such poisons little people the Labour party and their sore loosing supporters have become.

17 Aug 2009 09:56a.m.

hawzi wrote:

"Yes, the people of New Zeland are bizarrely dumb." This is the type of lefty 'govt knows what's best' comment that the country had resolved to end in November. Thanks for the reminder David.

16 Aug 2009 11:30p.m.

onelaw4all wrote:

Just, after the Labour bus tour, when Phil Goff is entering a market of some sort, isn't the Indian lady that flashes past on screen in his entourage the Richard Worth Mata Hari, AKA Neelam Choudary?

She certainly gets around..

16 Aug 2009 07:47p.m.

alien wrote:

It's time to roll Goff, but the problem is the person they are training up to take it comes off as a stuck up, snob, who will just lose even more labour votes.