KEY POINTS:
Tauranga's National Party candidate, Simon Bridges, is taking news of his leap in popularity over rival Winston Peters in his stride.
A One News poll last night gave the first-time candidate 54 per cent of the vote to 28 per cent for the New Zealand First leader in
the hotly contested seat.
"It's pleasing, but the reality is the only poll that matters is the one next week," Mr Bridges told the Herald.
"I'll be working very hard to make those numbers stick on election day. There's still a lot of people to meet and convince."
The Kiwi Party's Larry Baldock is next on 7 per cent, while support for Labour's Anne Pankhurst is 5 per cent, a third of what she polled in August.
Mr Bridges spent yesterday targeting Tauranga's elderly. Speaking at Althorp retirement village in Pyes Pa, the 31-year-old seemed to convince many of about 30 people to give party and electorate votes to National.
"I'm all for having some younger people in Parliament," said Graham Beaumont, 71. "We've got too many [politicians] who are past their use-by date." His wife, Margaret, 69, said she was impressed by Mr Bridges' character. "He's a very good speaker, very well educated and a lovely person."
The pair said they had voted National for the 15 years they had lived in New Zealand, but Mr Bridges also appeared to win favour among those who had given their party vote to minority parties at the last election.
"We need change, and I think any vote for a smaller party is a wasted vote," said a retired nurse who voted for United Future in 2002.
The 67-year-old, who asked not to be named, said she agreed with National's policy - as conveyed by Mr Bridges - to cut bureaucrat numbers in government departments. The woman said her husband had been in hospital 11 times in the last 15 months and she believed there were too many bureaucrats and not enough medical staff.
Mr Bridges said National would cut "the burgeoning bureaucracy" that had grown under Labour.
He also vowed the party would be disciplined in government spending, reduce taxes, invest more in infrastructure (including ultra-fast broadband), and lift educational standards.
The former Crown prosecutor was met with murmurs of approval when he said police would be given more tools to tackle violent crime, which he said had risen by 72 per cent in Tauranga under Labour's tenure.
He also wanted a branch of the High Court established in Tauranga to ease the backlog of criminal cases.