KEY POINTS:
Lawyer and former councillor Len Brown is the early favourite to replace Sir Barry Curtis as Mayor of Manukau City, a Herald-DigiPoll shows.
Nearly a third, or 29.4 per cent, of those polled chose Mr Brown as their preferred mayor, ahead of People's Choice candidate Dick Quax who gained 21.6 per cent.
Mr Brown surprisingly outpolled Mr Quax, albeit by a slim margin, in the former Olympian's power base of the Botany/Clevedon and Howick areas, although Mr Quax polled well in the blue-collar suburbs of Otara and Mangere, where Mr Brown is expected to do well.
Broadcaster Willie Jackson, who made a much-publicised entrance into the mayoral race last month, polled third with 16.2 per cent, taking a big chunk of the Mangere and Manurewa votes during his month-long campaign.
Auckland regional councillor and former broadcaster Craig Little completed the field of main contenders with 10.1 per cent.
Mr Quax, who last week accused Manukau City Council chief executive Leigh Auton of political meddling on the issue of council staff numbers, said the race had just started.
He was not reading too much into the poll.
"It's a poll, it's not an election result," he said.
"My campaign is on track and I'm happy with the way things are going, I've got to keep my head down and not worry about anyone else."
Mr Brown, who said he had knocked on more than 35,000 doors in Manukau during his three-year campaign, was upbeat and believed the poll was a true reflection of the support he had from the entire city.
"I don't have the benefit of television or media exposure so this just confirms my faith that if you get close to people and try to connect with them on a personal level they appreciate that," he said.
"It also confirms that people want a mayor who can lead the whole city."
Mr Jackson said he was pleased with his polling of 16.2 per cent, particularly as his campaign was only four weeks old.
"We haven't been campaigning for six years like some have ... It's a little disappointing not to be leading but we have had to work tremendously hard in trying to catch up."
The host of Eye to Eye said he regretted not beginning his campaign earlier.
"I think if it was three to six months ago we would be in the lead. There's still three weeks to go, and we are concentrating on people who haven't traditionally voted," he said.
Nearly a quarter of those polled were either undecided over who they would choose or said they would not vote for any of the 11 candidates.
Turnout at the last election was among the lowest in the country, with only 40 per cent of those eligible bothering to vote.
Other results from polling showed property rates and waste water charges, which Manukau City Council raised this year by 5.9 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively, are the election's most important issues.
More than 80 per cent of those polled said they were pleased with the council's performance in Sir Barry's last term in office, with more than a quarter rating the council's achievements as "very good" or "excellent".
Nearly 60 per cent said the council could make more use of user charges but the same amount were against it taking on more debt.
