Cam Slater: Newshub Poll - Winston Game On

The latest Newshub/Reid Research poll is out and it confirms that Labour are toast. But it also shows what I have been predicting for months: that National’s support would wane and NZ First’s would grow. No wonder Christopher Luxon felt squeezed enough to have to confirm he’d pick up the phone after the results are known and call Winston Peters to get discussions underway.

Cam Slater: Doom Polling, It’s a Thing

Have you ever heard of doom scrolling or doom surfing? Wikipedia describes it as “the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of negative news online. In 2019, a study by the National Academy of Sciences found that doomscrolling can be linked to a decline in mental and physical health.”

Now there’s doom polling: the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading news sites waiting for the next poll to see if it is worse than the last one.

Peter Wilson: The Week in Politics - Poll pushes Labour closer to the danger zone

Another poll points to a change of government and pushes Labour closer to the danger zone, David Seymour says he won't sit at the cabinet table with NZ First, National announces a huge road building plan which the government picks holes in, and there's an interesting look at which MPs could be in a National/ ACT cabinet.

Graham Adams: Ardern enters the tragi-comic phase of her tenure

As Labour’s fortunes plummet, the Prime Minister’s behaviour is becoming erratic.

When Jacinda Ardern was asked by Newshub’s Jenna Lynch for her reaction to the disastrous results of the Newshub-Reid Research poll released on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister claimed: “Our starting point is not what we can do to change the polls. Our starting point is what can we do to support New Zealanders with the cost of living.”

She looked strained delivering this desperately pious response, but she certainly handled the question better than when a journalist asked last month how she felt about the “hiding Labour got at the local body elections”.

Bryce Edwards: Labour’s version of conservatism is no longer popular

New Zealand now essentially has two conservative major parties for the public to choose from. Unfortunately for one of them – the Labour Party – the public increasingly prefers the more authentic conservative option, National. This can be seen in the latest opinion poll showing National continuing to storm ahead of Labour.

According to last night’s Newshub-Reid Research poll, National has nearly a third more support than Labour – 41 per cent compared to just 32 per cent. As a result, Labour is currently projected to lose something like 24 of its MPs at the next election, and be turfed out of power in what could be a landslide reversal of the 2020 victory.