3 News/TNS Poll: May 2008

3 NEWS: Labour was hoping to bounce up, but in fact it has gone down. National is up two to 50, Labour slides three to 38, and the Greens remain steady on 5.8. New Zealand First goes up ever so slightly to 3.9, the Maori party is safe on 2. Act and United Future barely register.

It has been a good month for John Key, in the preferred Prime Minister rankings despite not doing much. He shoots past Helen Clark up six to 35, and Clark drops back three to 29.

And our other data shows Labour's tax cuts simply haven't worked. Key this week took time out to try his hand in a 747 flight simulator. It really captures the moment, National is in complete control.

National has not suffered any turbulence in this poll Key is still hitting the right buttons, even after Michael Cullen's 10.6 billion dollar tax cut giveaway.

The "Colby" budget will give most Kiwi workers between just 12 and 16 dollars a week.

So your verdict on Cullen's tax cuts? The majority, 61 percent say they will be no better off; 26 percent say somewhat better off. But a mere four percent say they will be significantly better off. And with rising food prices, five percent say they will be worse off.

We also asked voters about the size of Cullen's tax cuts; and 45 percent say the tax cuts aren't big enough, 34 percent say they are about right, just 10 percent say Labour shouldn't have reduced taxes as much as it did.

It is a clear message, people are not happy, they wanted more, and they wanted it earlier.

These tax cuts have been nine years coming, and National has done it's best to undermine them, and talk up expectations. And voters do expect Key to do better.

48 percent of voters say if National was in Government it would have expected bigger tax cuts, 39 percent don't believe National can do any better, and 12 percent don't know.

These results put pressure on Key to land bigger cuts but the books are tight, we asked him if he'll commit to a 45 dollar a week tax cut for working kiwis, and he won't.

So Helen Clark thinks her tax cuts delivered but so many households do not. This is proof that even a 10.6 billion cheque to Kiwi households can't stop Labour's slide.