Great Day in the Morning!!!

Bludgers and dole recipients are about the only people in New Zealand that are not fed-up with Helen Clark's nanny-state socialist government which has ruled the land for the last nine years, and it looks like National stands a good chance for a victory and a majority of seats in parliament in the elections which could be held as early as October.

Saturday's Fairfax Media-Nielsen poll, published in the Dominion Post newspaper, shows a gap between the Nats and Labour of 19 percentage points, still enough for National to govern alone.

National sits on 54 points, while Labour is steady on 35.

Party leader John Key now gets the nod as preferred prime minister from 43% of voters, while Helen Clark has 31%.

New Zealand First has slipped back to just 2% support.

Overall, the poll shows minor parties being squeezed out...with only 11% of the electorate left to scrap over after the 'Big Two' are accounted for.

I have no illusions that National is the cure-all for the problems this country faces. Personally, I think they are just the other side of the same coin, doing what the GOP has done in the US: Moved to the left and adopted many of the same policies as Labour to "broaden" their appeal.

That's not what I am excited about. It's the residual effect that has my attention.

You see, parties need a minimum of 5% of the vote to stay in parliament, and it ain't lookin' good for the Greens!!!

They are polling just 3.5%.
(snip)
Parliament would change dramatically on these results. National would have 66 seats, Labour 48, and assuming they hold their electorates, the Maori Party picks up four and United Future, Act and the Progressives one each. But without electorate seats and polling under 5%, both New Zealand First and the Greens are out of parliament.

I'm not one who holds a lot of faith in polls, so I'm not getting my hopes up; but if the Greens get tossed out of government on their collectivist asses, it will be a great victory for the people of New Zealand to be rid of those tofu-eating neo-Commies, regardless of which of the "Big Two" wins.