Greens losing support according to poll

ONE NEWS: The latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll sees Labour trailing well behind National and the results suggest the governing party could also lose a key ally.

Labour remains stable on 35% support, but the National Party has extended its support from 50% in the February poll to 54% this time around.

While Labour has stared down the barrel of a nine point deficit many times over the last year, they have always done so with strong support for key ally, the Green Party.

But this poll has seen a dramatic change in fortune for the Greens.

Support for the party, which has sat between 5% and 7% since August last year, has halved to 3.7%. Those figures would see the Greens out of parliament and Labour struggling to stitch together a coalition.

Of the remaining smaller parties the Maori Party is polling at 3.2%, NZ First at 1.5% and Act at 1.1% support.

In the preferred Prime Minister stakes John Key is still the top choice down one point this month to 35% support. Helen Clark is also down, by two points to 29%. Winston Peters is also still hanging around with 4% support.

The latest poll also sees voters getting increasingly pessimistic about the economy, with 57% of those polled expecting the economy to worsen in the next 12 months.

The ONE News Colmar Brunton poll surveyed 1000 eligible voters and has a margin of error of 3.1%.

THE RESULTS

Party Vote

Poll conducted evenings on 12-17 April 2008:

National - 54%

Labour - 35%

Green Party -3.7%

NZ First -1.5%

ACT NZ - 1.1%

Preferred PM

John Key - 35%

Helen Clark - 29%

Winston Peters - 4%

Economic Outlook

"And do you think during the next 12 months the economy will be in a better state than at present, or in a worse state?"

Better - 23%

Same - 20%

Worse - 57%