Labour’s poll lead rises to 26 points

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 1

Labour’s poll lead rises to 26 points

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

A record 26-point gap has opened between Labour and National in the remarkable “Eyewitness”Heylen poll taken last Saturday

If such a margin Is experienced in the pending August General Election, Labour will enjoy a landslide victory. But even Labour’s most ardent supporters believe such a margin is unsustainable. It is prompting the Labour Party to divert its resources from the marginal seats it holds into National-held marginals such as Albany, Clevedon, Manawatu, Marlborough, Rangiora and Invercargill. In the May poll Labour held an 18-point lead over National with 57 per cent support to National’s 39 per cent.

In the latest June poll, Labour increased its support four points to 61 per cent, while National’s support fell four points to 35 per cent

: Support for the Democratic Party increased slightly to. 4.. per cent.

A significant element of the poll was the drop in the number of uncommitted voters to 15 per cent of the 935 respondents, This suggests that the hitherto large uncommitted vote is flowing to Labour.

Part of the increasing attraction of Labour is in the growing support for its handling of the economy. This time 51 per cent expected the economy to get better, compared with 44 per cent in the May poll. Approval of Labour’s handling of the economy rose seven points to 57 per cent, while approval of Labour’s over-all performance rose six points. Labour achieved this result in spite of virtually no shift in the preferred Prime Minister stakes. Mr Lange remained at 37 per cent and Mr Bolger at 8 per cent, while support for Sir Robert Muldoon fell one point to 17 per

cent. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, said last evening that the poll was a joke which would be exposed at the General Elec-

tion. •• . • tv. election night .New Zealanders will have., the ; last

laugh on polling organisations such as Heylen.” Labour members, many of whom watched the poll results on television, were jubilant. Some expressed surprise only that the margin was not greater.