National still strong in polls

Prime Minister John Key remains the preferred choice by voters. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The latest political polls show National holding on to high levels of support.

TVNZ-Colmar Brunton and 3News polls today showed National was unscathed despite its proposal to partially sell state-owned assets.

In the TVNZ poll, National support was at 51 per cent, down 4 points, while in the 3News poll, party support was at 54.6 per cent, down 0.9 points.

More than 1000 eligible voters were interviewed for the TVNZ poll from February 12 to 16. The margin of error was 3.1 per cent.

Labour was unchanged at 33 per cent and but the Greens surged from 4.5 per cent in December to 8 per cent.

New Zealand First was up 0.5 of a percentage point, to 3.6 per cent.

The TVNZ poll also showed the Act Party made a slight comeback, with support up from 0.9 to 1.3 per cent, while the Maori Party barely moved at 2.3 per cent.

The 3News poll showed Labour support dropping 0.3 points to 30.9 per cent but again the Greens increased, to 8.2 per cent.

NZ First rose 1.4 points to 3.3 per cent - a level of support not seen in the poll since mid to late-2008.

The Maori Party was up 0.6 to 2.3 per cent, ACT was down 0.7 points to 0.6 per cent and United Future did not rate.

The 3News poll interviewed 1000 eligible voters.

Prime Minister John Key was still first choice for prime minister in both political polls, despite taking an 8-point hit in the TVNZ poll to 48 per cent.

Labour leader Phil Goff got 7 per cent of the support, NZ First's Winston Peters 3 per cent and former Labour prime minister Helen Clark 2 per cent.

The 3News poll also had Mr Key shedding support as preferred prime minister, down 5 points to 49.1 per cent, while Mr Goff was flat at 6.8 per cent.

Mr Peters went up almost 2 percentage points to 4.9, and Ms Clark sat at 3.8 per cent.

Sixty per cent opposed National's plan to sell assets, according to the 3News poll.

The TVNZ poll shows 57 per cent agreed with Mr Key's decision not to work with Mr Peters, while 34 per cent believed it was a mistake.

- NZPA