Labour Party leader Andrew Little is well and truly on the leadership learning curve, but he's certainly had a nice start to the job, with Labour on the rise.
Mr Little has a New Year's message to Prime Minister John Key.
"We're not stopping," he says. "We are underway. I am not stopping. We're coming your way."
Mr Key is on the up too though, and as for Labour's bump in the polls, he's got that covered.
"I'm not surprised," says Mr Key. "I think Labour is cannibalising the vote on the left of politics as Andrew Little goes through his honeymoon period."
Voters do like what they see, especially when compared to Mr Little's predecessors. Asked if Mr Little looks like a better match for Mr Key, 55 percent, a clear majority, say yes, up against 12 percent who say just the same and 18 percent that reckon he will be worse.
But this is crucial. Out of National voters, exactly whom Mr Little needs to win over, almost one in every two, 48 percent, rate him as a better match for Mr Key.
"It's nice to get all that feedback," says Mr Little.
"If you think of the election result in 2014, Labour was led to their worst result," says Mr Key. "A lot of people might think that given how bad that was you can probably only improve from there."
3 News polls on the same questions regularly, and Mr Little has got some of the highest ratings since Helen Clark. For instance, 54 percent say he is a capable leader; only Ms Clark got higher.
But here's the problem for Mr Little – 81 percent of voters rate Mr Key as capable.
As for performance, asked how the leaders are doing, 45 percent say Mr Little is performing well – again the highest rating since Ms Clark. Just 17 percent say he is doing a poor job. That's good for a Labour chief.
Sixty-three percent say Mr Key is performing well, and 24 percent say he is doing poorly.
"I think it is a good result," says Mr Key. "It shows that we have started the year strong."
So while Mr Key and National are still in total control, for Mr Little and Labour, these result show there is hope.
In politics there is hope, but there are also headaches, and they will certainly come.
Full poll results:
3 News-Reid Research poll, taken January 20-28, 2015
1000 people polled, margin of error +/- 3.1 percent
- National – 49.8 percent, up 2.8 percent on election night result
- Labour – 29.1 percent, up 4 percent
- Green – 9.3 percent, down 1.4 percent
- New Zealand First – 6.9 percent, down 1.9 percent
- Conservative – 2.7 percent, down 1.3 percent
- Maori – 1.3 percent, N/C
- Internet Mana – 0.6 percent, down 0.8 percent
- ACT – 0.4 percent, down 0.3 percent
- United Future – 0 percent, down 0.2 percent
Seats in house:
- National – 62
- Maori – 2
- Act – 1
- United Future – 1
Govt total: 66
- Labour – 36
- Green – 12
- New Zealand First – 8
Opposition total: 56
Total seats: 122
Preferred Prime Minister:
- John Key – 44 percent, up 3.9 percent
- Andrew Little – 9.8 percent (debut)
Special one-off question:
Andrew Little is Labour's latest leader. His predecessors, Phil Goff, David Shearer and David Cunliffe, all struggled in the "leader-on-leader" contest with John Key.
From what you have seen of Mr Little so far, do you think he is potentially a better match for Mr Key than his predecessors?
- Yes, better match – 55 percent
- Just the same – 12 percent
- Worse – 18 percent
- Don't know – 15 percent
National voters breakdown:
- Yes – 48 percent
- Just the same – 13 percent
- Worse – 26 percent
- Don't know – 13 percent
How the leaders are performing?
Andrew Little:
- Performing well – 45 percent
- Performing poorly – 17 percent
John Key:
- Well – 63 percent
- Poorly – 24 percent
Is he a capable leader?
- Andrew Little – 54 percent say yes
- John Key – 81 percent say yes
3 News
source: newshub archive
