20 Dec 2010

Lot of ground for Labour to make up

6:08 am on 20 December 2010

The Labour Party goes into the New Year with a lot of ground to make up if it is to challenge the National Party at the next general election.

Labour recorded 33% support in the party vote, well behind National on 55% in the latest One News Colmar Brunton poll.

Radio New Zealand's political editor says Labour has struggled to gain traction in the latter part of this year as the Government has been in the limelight dealing firstly with the Canterbury earthquake and then the Pike River mine disaster.

And clearly so far, voters think National has dealt well with those crises.

No other party polled above 5%, with the Green Party dropping to 4.5%.

New Zealand First Party was the next best on 3.1%, while the Maori Party got 2.2%.

The poll of 1011 eligible voters was conducted last week and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.