National shows slip in poll

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 1

National shows slip in poll

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The National Opposition slipped further behind the Labour Government in the public’s estimation in the latest "Eye Witness”Heylen poll. The last one was taken before Christmas.

The gap between 54.1 per cent support for Labour and 39.5 per cent support for National was about 1 per cent greater than before. This failure to close the gap explains why the Leader of the Opposition, Mr McLay, felt the need for a big reshuffle of his front bench and of portfolios this week.

The poll was conducted last Saturday, two days before the reshuffle, and so it had no influence on the result.

Both third parties continued in the doldrums, with the Democrats at 3.6 per cent and the New Zealand Party at 2;8 per cent.

Labour is now polling 11 per cent ahead of its support on election night in July, 1984, and National 3 per cent ahead, showing the disaster that has befallen the two third parties in the last 18 months.

The poll was also bad news for Mr McLay personally. Support for him has fallen from 3.6 per cent to 3.3 per cent. Support for his deputy leader, Mr Jim Bolger, is up slightly from 6.7 to 6.8 per cent, while the former

Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, is still polling far ahead of both of them at 17.4 per cent Support for the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, is also down from 38.1 to 36.2 per cent This poll is more a reflection of support in Auckland than of the country generally, but it shows . that in spite of public concern about the economy, interest rates, unemployment and other i matters, Labour is still far ahead of National in the public’s estimation. In spite of the improved support for the Government there is increased dissatisfaction with its performance. There was a 3 per cent drop to 50 per cent approval on the over-all Government performance; a 4 per cent drop to 44 per cent approval of its handling of the economy, a 10 per cent drop to 32 per cent approval of its handling of employment, and a 10 per cent drop to 18 per cent approval of its handling of interest rates. Only 17 per cent, of those polled were satisfied with the Government’s handling of the economy, while 32 per cent were dissatisfied, and 50 per cent did not know. There was also gloom about the future. Only 28 per cent thought things would get better, while 48 per cent thought they would get worse and 25 per cent thought they would stay the same.