Resurgent opposition boosts lead in New Zealand election
A resurgent Labor opposition under charismatic new leader Jacinda Ardern has increased its lead over New Zealand’s ruling National Party in fresh polls two weeks out from a general election. Support for Labor has surged 20 percent in the five weeks since the 37-year-old Ardern took over and turned the campaign into a generation game as she targets younger voters. The latest 1News-Colmar Brunton poll, released Thursday night, had the centre-left Labor Party on 43 percent, four points clear of the centre-right National which slipped to 39 percent-its lowest level in 12 years.
The margin was double the two-point lead Labour held in the same poll a week ago. Ardern described the new numbers as “heartening” but noted other polls had the margin much closer. “The polls that we see generally are really moving a little bit all over the place at the moment so I’m not focusing on any one poll,” she said. Prime Minister Bill English said he was “not really” concerned by the numbers and believed there would be more volatility as voters analyzed policies closer to the September 23 election.
Ardern has campaigned on issues such as education, health and housing affordability and argued that “my generation is being sold down the river,” by the conservative government. On Friday she added climate change to her target list, describing it as “my generation’s nuclear-free moment”. “We have to take our place in the world to combat this problem, we have to show leadership,” she said. National, looking for a recordequaling fourth term in government, has focused on its record for the past nine years steering the country through the global economic crisis and recovery from the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Radio New Zealand, which collates various polls, said the average from the three most recent ones available had Labor on 41.8 percent, just ahead of National on 41.1 percent. On current poll numbers, neither National nor Labor would be able to govern alone and would likely need support from New Zealand First and other minor parties.