OPINION

1News has released the latest 1News/Verian Poll and it confirms the Newshub poll. The trend is the most important thing and the trend says National and Labour are slipping away, Act has stalled, and Winston Peters is on a surge, gaining 1 per cent a week.

New Zealand First has strengthened its chances of taking a place in the next government, according to the latest 1News Verian Poll results.

Winston Peters’ party has lifted another 1% to 6% since last week, giving it some breathing space above the threshold for a place in Parliament.

The poll result caps a dramatic rise for Peters and his party, which was on just 3% and facing another term in the Parliamentary wilderness in July’s poll.

National, meanwhile, was down 1% to 36% in tonight’s results and Act was steady on 12%. That would give National 45 seats and Act 15 – a total of 60 seats, one short of the 61 needed to form a government – and leave National leader Christopher Luxon relying on Peters’ support.

Luxon this week opened the door to NZ First saying, if he needed to, he would pick up the phone to Peters after October 14’s election results are in.

Tonight’s poll indicated NZ First would have eight MPs and that Luxon would be making that call.

This looked the most likely scenario on tonight’s poll results as the left bloc was a distance from gaining enough seats to form a government.

Labour continued its gradual slide, down another 1% to 26% – a 10% drop since March – giving the party just 33 MPs.

The Greens were up 1% to 13%, giving them a projected 17 MPs, and Te Pati Maori was down 1% to 2%. Presuming Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi retains the Waiariki electorate, the party would get two seats. That would leave the left bloc well short on 52 MPs.

1News

Labour’s election is over. They cannot and will not recover in time for the election. People have simply stopped listening. Chris Hipkins should save his voice so he can give a concession speech on October 14.

Liz Gunn’s claim that there are two million voters out there waiting to vote for her is looking increasingly silly. Unless they are running a psyop getting their supporters to answer the pollsters with anything but NZLoyal. It’s a cunning ploy, and who knows it might just work…or not.

All the other minnow parties are likewise wasting their time and their supporters’ votes, and they really need to just give it up. They are a busted flush.

I’ve long predicted the trend would happen like this. We are back to the normal polling cycle this election, and National will slide back further: there is nothing major they can announce that will act as a circuit breaker.

The trend also shows that voters really want a handbrake, in the form of NZ First.

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As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news,...