Ryan Bridge: Labour's getting protest votes

People aren't telling pollsters they'd vote for Labour because they'd actually vote for Labour.

Labour hasn't got any policies - they're an empty vessel.

It's captain is still, according to most recent polling, less popular than the current Prime Minister.

It's a protest vote. They're telling the PM to hurry up and do something else to rescue the economy the last lot, and a trade war, have suppressed.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Luxon isn't National's biggest problem

I'm happy to report to you that it looks like some of us want to play the old 'should Luxon be rolled' game.

In the wake of the not-so-great polls that came out yesterday, there is a column by Andrea Vance - who I am name-checking because she's good and credible, and not just some junior reporter with an opinion.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should National be worried about these poll numbers?

Let's talk about this political poll.

National is behind Labour. National's on 32, Labour's on 34.

Now, this is not the first time that National has fallen behind Labour since the last election. The first time it happened was November last year. Then it happened again in January, twice. Then it happened again in March, twice.

Dr Will Jones: Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Point of Order: Opinion polls signal Labour stumbling to defeat

Tough times await a new Right-of-Centre coalition

Three different opinion polls in quick succession have signalled the Hipkins Labour-led government is crashing to defeat at next month’s election. As many as 34 of its members could lose their seats.

All three polls — the Post-Freshwater, Morgan, and Newshub-Reid— showed Labour below 30%.

Damien Grant: The odds for Labour's third term have lengthened dramatically

It was December 2019. I was at the Autobahn café in Papakura. You know the one; at the BP stop on the southern motorway as you flee the Supercity.

Before me was a few hours drive to Matamata and I was taking a moment to myself, enjoying a coffee and scrolling my phone without the energy to go beyond the headline.

Stuff, that wonderful site that allows me to write these columns, had a story about the latest opinion polls. The election was still a year away but if religion is the opium of the common folk, polls are catnip to those ensnared by an interest in politics.

I clicked the link and there it was. The long-awaited glimmer in ACTs endless winter. For the first time in a decade, polls were giving ACT a second MP.

Point of Order: Ardern government takes a dive....

.....but Jackson’s acrobatics are even more spectacular

The Ardern Government has taken a hammering in recent days.

The weird aspect is that it has largely done the damage to itself, with the Opposition left only to rub salt into the ugly wounds.

Point of Order: Why we are puzzled by the polls and what they are telling us about prospects of the Nats and ACT forming a government

Here’s a political conundrum: why aren’t Opposition parties doing better in the opinion polls?

National’s leadership has settled in, and it’s fair to say support for the Nats has increased since Christopher Luxon replaced Judith Collins. But the gains have been at the expense of ACT.

And together, the two parties are not polling well enough to form a government on their own.