Shore traditionally votes blue

Electorates on the North Shore have traditionally been safe National seats, but keep an eye on Northcote on voting day to predict what will happen this year.

In the 2014 election, the National Party received more than half of all of the valid party votes in each of the North Shore’s voting booths.

The bluest polling booth was at Campbells Bay Primary School in the North Shore electorate, where 70* per cent voted National.

The least blue booth in 2014 was Maria Assumpta Parish Hall, Northcote, with 35 of voters choosing Labour.

National MPs were voted in with East Coast Bays’ Murray McCully receiving 62 per cent of the votes, North Shore’s Maggie Barry receiving 63 per cent, and Northcote’s Jonathan Coleman 57 per cent.

National has held the East Coast Bays seat since 1987, the North Shore seat since 1996 and Northcote since 2005.

Northcote is considered a bellwether electorate with its voters most closely aligned with the national trend (see story page 17).

In 2014, voters at the booth at Birkenhead Baptist Church closely reflected the national stance, with 47.02 per cent of votes for National, compared with 47.04 countrywide.

In 2014, this booth was second closest to the national trend with just a 3.91 per cent difference, second only to Oranga School in the Maungakiekie Electorate where there was a 2.88 per cent difference. was newly formed last election, spanning from the North Shore’s Glenfield to west Auckland’s Massey, and National MP Paula Bennett received 57 per cent of that electorate’s vote.

The electorate’s bluest booth at Upper Harbour’s Greenhithe School garnered 78 per cent support for National.

The most support for Labour in the electorate was at Don Buck School in Massey, with 41 per cent voting Labour, making it the only booth to vote for Labour over National.

Another bellwether booth at Bayview School, in the Upper Harbour electorate, also reflected national trends in 2014 with a 6.07 per cent difference.

*Swedish rounding used.

❚ More election coverage on pages 16 and 17.

SIMON MAUDE/FAIRFAX NZ All of the booths on the North Shore had a majority of party votes for National in 2014.