Majority of Kiwis unhappy with election outcome, says poll

A majority of New Zealanders are unhappy with the election outcome and believe the country is in for three years of unstable government.

However, despite significant displeasure with last Saturday's result, the vast majority of respondents to a new Herald on Sunday-DigiPoll said they would not change their party vote if they had the chance.

The poll also delivers a boost to the Green party's cabinet prospects, showing nearly 40 per cent of respondents would support them being part of a formal governing coalition.

Despite claims this week that the electoral system distorted the result, voters are not calling for a change - 51.7 per cent saying they support MMP, with 39.2 per cent saying they do not.

That compares with the most recent poll on MMP, from July last year, which asked respondents whether they preferred this system or the old one - with 43 per cent backing MMP and 40 per cent supporting FPP.

The Herald on Sunday-DigiPoll of 400 people was conducted from Wednesday to Saturday and has a margin of error of about 4.9 per cent.

When asked if they were happy with the outcome of the election, 36.5 per cent of respondents said yes, 48.4 per cent said no, and 15.1 per cent said they didn't know.

Not surprisingly, the poll showed much greater discontent among National supporters, with only 14.9 per cent happy with the election result, compared to 62.4 per cent of Labour voters.

Asked if they would change their party vote if they could, 95.5 per cent of respondents said they would stick with the ballot they had cast.

Labour voters were also more optimistic about the prospects for the next administration, with 61.6 per cent saying we would have stable government over the next three years, compared with only 14.4 per cent of National voters.

Professor Jack Vowles, head of political studies at Auckland University and an expert in polling, said the results were ambiguous.

One inference was that right-wing voters were unhappy that Labour currently had the advantage.

Another feasible conclusion was that voters were dissatisfied that the election had not yet delivered a clear result. "You'd be likely to get greater happiness once the final result is known," he said.

"It reflects people not really knowing what's going to happen.

"Obviously, people aren't happy with the outcome and they're sceptical that we're going to have stable government, but we just don't really know."

He was "very surprised" at the level of support for a coalition involving the Greens, given their election night tally of 5.1 per cent.

The Greens were heartened by the poll, with co-leader Rod Donald calling it "a very good result".

"Even though all the Nats would have said no, an overwhelming majority of Labour voters would have said yes. And that's what's important with MMP."

Mr Donald said the result suggested "virtually all" Labour voters would be happy with a Labour-Greens Government.

Spokespeople for Helen Clark and Don Brash yesterday refused to comment on the poll, both saying they were awaiting the results of the more than 200,000 special votes still being counted.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY