Party, leader fall in poll

Press, 13 December 1986, Page 1

Party, leader fall in poll

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The National Party and its leader, Mr Bolger, have been humiliated by the results of the latest public opinion poll. The last “Eyewitness”Heylen public opinion poll of the year shows National has fallen 12 points behind Labour. Mr Bolger’s rating as preferred Prime Minister has slipped into single figures.

Both these results are well down on National’s performance in the November poll.

It is an added blow for Mr Bolger who has fallen from 18 per cent in August to 9 per cent in December, that he is now

eight points behind the former Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, in the public’s estimation. In the poll, support for Labour rose three points from 51 per cent in November to 54 per cent in December, while support for National fell from 45 per cent to 42 per cent in the same period. The six-point gap between the parties in November has now opened to 12 points. Support for the Democratic Party is stable at 3 per cent and for the New Zealand Party stable at 1 per cent. But the number of undecided voters has risen five points from 12.5 per cent in November to

17.4 per cent in December. The resurgence of Sir Robert and the plunge in Mr Bolger’s popularity is bound to reopen the deep wounds and divisions in the party as New Zealand enters a General Election year. Support for Mr Lange as Prime Minister is stable at 30 per cent, while support for Sir Robert Muldoon has risen from 16 to 17 per cent, and for Mr Bolger has declined from 13 per cent to 9 per cent. Support for Labour’s handling of the economy has risen three points to 46 per cent, and support for its handling of unemployment has risen two points to 23 per cent. The area of greatest concern about the Labour Government is over interest rates where support has fallen nine points from 42 per cent in November to 33 per cent in December. Although the National Party announced its own planned taxation policy before this poll was taken, support for the Government’s GST has risen nine points to 49 per cent.