Ryan Bridge: The Opportunity Party needs more time to hit five percent this election

I don't think Opportunity will hit five percent this election.

It's fun to flirt, people are frustrated, but I was there when Colin Craig got close and failed, saw Gareth Morgan then Geoff Simmons have a crack and fail.

I encourage anyone listening to have a look at their policies, do the maths and figure out for themselves how much worse, or better off, you'll be.

Their new leader is a great communicator. Her main job was an environmental/carbon advisor to businesses.

I don't really know what that means, but she's really lovely.

The problem with getting to five percent is timing.

The closer we get to election, this flirt, this fascination, this honeymoon, if you will, will have worn off.

Voters go into the booth trying to keep one side in, or one side out.

There's little room for flights of fancy in the polling booth.

The other thing people do in the polling booth is take out insurance.

By election week it's pretty clear, if you're listening, who is doing well and who is not.

So, voters take out insurance, it's why I've said consistently since last year that Winston will do well this year.

Labour voters, not National, will slide into his DMs.

He's offering them everything Hipkins is short of a Labour government on everything to from stopping asset sales to nationalising industry.

One of TOP's charms is that you don't know which way they'll go, It's also their biggest weakness.

They're unlikely to get the vast majority of their policies into a coalition agreement, so you're basically voting for who gets the keys to the kingdom.

And with TOP, you just don't know, and I think that'll be too big a risk for most to take come November 7th.

Ryan Bridge is a New Zealand broadcaster who has worked on many current affairs television and radio shows. He currently hosts Newstalk ZB's Early Edition - where this article was sourced.