NZ First doing 'far better' than polls suggest - Peters

New Zealand First would hold the balance of power. Photo / Richard Robinson

New Zealand First is doing "far better'' among voters than recent polls would suggest, leader Winston Peters says.

Past elections support the view that the party would be more successful on election night than polls leading up to it usually show, he said.

"The polls have been overly kind for National election after election, and against a real night result they've been far too high. For Labour they've been about right up and down but about right,'' Mr Peters told TV One's Q+A programme today.

"For the Greens, they've been excessively favourable to the Greens, always way above what they find they get. And we're always below what we really get, so your so-called 7 per cent polls are nonsense. We're doing far better than that.''

A One News Colmar Brunton poll released last Sunday showed a jump in support for NZ First, up 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.

A TV3 Reid Research poll released the same day had NZ First 4.9 per cent, down 0.8.

Mr Peters would not be drawn on which political party he would support after the election, but indicated what were important issues for his own.

"We are making it very clear where we stand in this election. People out there don't want wiffle waffle they want certainty.

"We want Auckland housing, New Zealand housing, to be for New Zealand people. We want New Zealand farms for young farmers in New Zealand in particular, not to be owned by everybody around the world, and absentee-owned at that.''