Labour lead reduced in latest Heylen poll

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 1

Labour lead reduced in latest Heylen poll

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Slightly better news for the National Party, but still little comfort for its leader, Mr McLay, was contained in the latest “Eye Witness”-Heylen poll released last evening.

The gap between Labour and National of 18 points a month ago has fallen to 13 points, with Labour down two points to 53 and National up three points to 40.

This is reflected in slightly improved support for Labour’s over-all performance from 52 to 53 per cent, and in its economic performance from 46 to 48 points, but a decline in support for its performance on unemployment from 46 to 42 points. The Democratic Party was still well down at 4 per cent support and the New Zealand Party was at 3 per cent.

Approval rating for the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, was up slightly to 53 per cent and for the Leader of the Opposition, Mr McLay,

up 4 points to 24 per cent. But in the preferred Prime Minister stakes, National’s front men all did dismally. Mr Lange was up from 34 per cent a month ago to 38.1 per cent, while his deputy, Mr Palmer, fell back slightly to 3.6 per cent. Mr McLay continued his slow climb from the 2.6 per cent in early November to 3.2 per cent in late November and 3.6 per cent in midDecember. His deputy, Mr Jim Bolger, fell back nearly two points from 8.6 per cent in late November to 6.7 per cent in mid-December. Sir Robert Muldoon rose from 16.8 per cent to 17.9 per cent.

The drop in support for Mr Bolger had been expected. He had been wounded by the failed coup

against Mr McLay on December 12 and it was not surprising that Mr Bolger had lost ground.

What was surprising was that Mr McLay seems to have attracted virtually no sympathy vote when the poll was held on December 14.

The former National Cabinet Minister, Mr Derek Quigley, who has not been a member of Parliament since July, 1984, is still ahead of Mr McLay although he too has dropped back — from 7.6 per cent to 4.9 per cent. These results give a bit of a pre-Christmas fillip to the National Party, reducing the gap with Labour from 18 to 13 points, but really no comfort at all to Mr McLay, who still rates humiliatingly badly.