Dotcom's party gets a ranking

Majority of Kiwis surveyed believe rich and poor are further apart under National.

Kim Dotcom's Internet Party has started registering support in a new political poll. And it could have enough support to gain one seat in Parliament if it did a deal with the Mana Party and Mana leader Hone Harawira kept his seat.

TV3's Reid Research poll has the Internet Party registering support for the first time, with 0.4 per cent.

Added to Mana's 1.1 per cent, the total of 1.5 per cent would bring in two MPs - one for each party, assuming they had alternate candidates on a combined party list.

The TV3 poll showed Labour in further decline, down to 31.2 per cent, and the popularity of Labour leader David Cunliffe down by 1.8 points to 9 per cent.

National is up 1.4 points to 45.9 per cent, and Prime Minister John Key up 3.6 points to 42.6 per cent.

The decline of Labour and Mr Cunliffe is also reflected in the latest One News-Colmar Brunton poll. Labour is down three points to 31 per cent and Mr Cunliffe down two points to 8 per cent.

National is on 47 per cent, down from 51 per cent last month.

The big shift in the One News poll is a jump in support for Winston Peters' New Zealand First party, which is up by four points to 7 per cent and well clear of the 5 per cent threshold required to get seats in the House without winning an electorate seat.

Polling for the TV3 and One News polls finished last Wednesday, the day before the Internet Party started its membership drive, but in the midst of publicity about a possible alliance between it and the Mana Party.