23 Nov 2011

Latest Fairfax poll has National further ahead of Labour

4:17 pm on 23 November 2011

The latest political poll has the National Party increasing its lead over the Labour Party as the campaign enters its final days.

The Fairfax Media-Research International Poll puts National on 54% support, up from 52.5%.

Labour and the Green Party are steady on 26% and 12% respectively.

However Labour Party leader, Phil Goff, says Labour's own polling, as well as the comments they are getting from the public, tell a different story.

"We think that the gap is narrowing, and we think that Labour has an excellent chance of leading a new government."

The New Zealand First Party inches closer to 5% in the poll, rising from 2.8% in the previous Fairfax poll to 4% in the lastest survey.

The Maori, Mana and ACT Parties all sit around 1% and United Future barely registers in the poll, with just 0.1% support.

The survey of 1000 people was taken between Thursday and Monday, in the days after National Party leader John Key had laid a complaint with police over a recording of his conversation with ACT candidate John Banks in an Auckland cafe.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.