KEY POINTS:
With a week to go to election day, 80 people out of 99 on the Herald's Voters Panel have made up their minds.
The deciding factors for each of them are as diverse as their decisions, which they were not asked to declare.
"Time for a change," said the largest number (21), 10 cited party policies, nine were voting they way they always did, others' reasons ranged from economic policy and leaders' personalities to trust and suspected secret agendas.
Two mentioned "dirt digging", an apparent reference to Labour's efforts to discredit John Key's statements to the "H-fee" investigation in the 1980s.
Asked what had been the deciding factor, the comments included:
"Getting rid of Helen Clark."
"The way the country is heading with Labour. They seem to want to control all our lives."
"National has a poofter for a leader."
"The evil you know versus the evil you don't."
"The secret agendas are a littledisturbing, I fear the damage that will be done."
"Following in my father's footsteps."
One was casting a vote to "try to force National, who unfortunately will win, to go into coalition with the right party".
Another made the decision "way back when the Government signed the Kyoto agreement".
A former Labour supporter said, "I can't overlook the shonky things they've done over the last term. The pledge card, the EFA [Electoral Finance Act], smacking law, excusing Phillip Field, wilful blindness with regards to the dodgy goings-on of Winston Peters ... "
But a loyal Labour voter cited "stable governance rather than election promises, and the party that will serve the best interests of all New Zealanders, particularly the less well-off".
Of the 99 panel members who replied, only 19 were still making up their minds. Asked what was the main issue they had yet to resolve, one said, "Whether National will do some of the things I don't want them to."
Several said they intended to go through National's published policies more thoroughly next week.
One was tossing up "whether to vote for the Nats or Labour and feel like my vote counts, or vote for a minor party that I am more aligned with and feel like my vote is wasted".
Another said, "I am just watching and waiting to see what National are intending to do with KiwiSaver."
QUESTION
* Have you decided which party will get your vote next Saturday?
