KEY POINTS:
The latest political poll shows the Labour Party has again lost ground after a brief resurgence as the controversy over Winston Peters' donations continues.
TV One's Colmar Brunton poll last night showed Labour had dropped back to 18 points behind National, losing the ground it had made in recent months. Labour has dropped back to 35 per cent - down two points - while National has increased to 53 - up two. The parties were within 14 points in the same poll a month ago and as close as eight points in other polls.
It was the first poll to test whether Clark's credibility had been dented by her handling of the affair, including her admission Owen Glenn had told her of the donation in February despite her subsequent statements she accepted Mr Peters' denials of it on his word.
Helen Clark's ranking as preferred Prime Minister has dropped by two points to 31 per cent, while National leader John Key has gone up four to 40 per cent. Mr Key has ruled out working with Mr Peters after the election, and yesterday said Helen Clark's own handling of the Peters affair had shown in the poll.
The poll shows Labour has taken a hit from the ongoing saga around Winston Peters and the NZ First donations - although it would have feared a greater blow.
"I thought actually for there to be no movement whatsoever was probably quite a good result in the circumstances," Helen Clark said on TVNZ's Breakfast programme.
She said the One News poll was traditionally the worst for Labour. "The trend in other polls has been for the gap to close so that Labour plus support parties have every chance of forming a government and I'm going into the campaign on that basis."
The damage from the Peters affair could be compounded this week, when Mr Peters' lawyer Brian Henry will speak by teleconference to the privileges committee to try to shore up his claims it was he - rather than Mr Peters - who approached Mr Glenn for the $100,000 donation. The committee will hear Mr Henry on Tuesday and its report is expected next week.
NZ First has also been punished in the poll, dropping from 2.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent after recently reaching around 3 and 4 per cent in other polls. However, Winston Peters' own ranking as preferred Prime Minister has remained steady on 3 per cent.
It follows a period in which several other polls showed Labour was gaining ground - after falling as far as 25 points behind, a slew of polls last month showed it was narrowing the gap to as close as eight points.
TVNZ's poll also shows a lift for Act, which has gone from 0.6 per cent last month to 2 per cent, which would give it three seats in Parliament and ensure Roger Douglas re-entered.
The Colmar Brunton poll of 1007 voters was taken from Saturday until Thursday last week and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.
The poll was taken before the Reserve Bank dropped interest rates and Labour will be hoping that move and tax cuts in a fortnight will be a fillip.
The latest poll:
National 53
Labour 35
Greens 5
Act 2
NZ First 1.8
Source: TV One/Colmar Brunton
