The Labour Party's Tamati Coffey is leading the race for the Waiariki electorate, according to 38% of respondents in a Māori Television Curia Market Research election poll released on Sunday evening. The Māori Party's Rawiri Waititi is not far behind on 26% of the vote, with Vision NZ's Hannah Tamaki a distant third on 2%.
However, a significantly large 24% of people were undecided about their preferred candidate.
Waiariki is looking good for Labour's party vote, with 47% of respondents saying they intend to vote Labour, with 19% for the Māori Party, 7% Greens, 3% National, 2% NZ First and 2% ACT. Some 14% of those polled were undecided.
Asked who their most preferred coalition partner would be if Labour were to form a coalition, the Māori Party came in first with 52% while 38% said they would prefer the Green Party, 14% NZ First, and only 5% preferred National.
Some 50% of respondents said they would vote for the End of Life Choice Act, 25% were against, with 26% undecided.
Asked if they would support the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, 52% of respondents said they would vote for the bill and 30% said they would not, with 18% undecided.
The three most important issues for Waiariki voters are health, housing and in equal third place Māori/Treaty issues and the economy.
Nearly a fifth - 19% of respondents -said someone in their household had lost their job due to Covid-19.
The polls were conducted by Curia Market Research for Māori Television between September 30 and October 1, 2020. A total of 500 voters were canvassed. Polling was by landline and mobile, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.