More poll misery

If the Labour Party and David Shearer were hoping for good news when 3News reported its latest poll last night, they will have been disappointed. In fact the poll results are so convincing, that 3News' website editor can't even bring themself to publish the full story, so to get the actual numbers without watching a video, other MSM sources have to be relied on; the Herald reports (via Newstalk ZB):

The National Party is well ahead, as is Prime Minister John Key in the latest opinion poll.

The 3 News Reid Research Poll has National on just under 50 per cent support, a clear 20 points ahead of Labour which is polling just below 30 per cent.

The Greens are on just over 14 per cent and all other parties in parliament are well below the five per cent MMP threshold.

John Key has a commanding lead in the preferred Prime Minister stakes with 44 per cent support, compared with Labour leader David Shearer's 10 per cent.

This is another horror result for Labour. They would like to think that they have the John Key-led government on the ropes, but the punches they are landing aren't doing any damage at all.

So we wonder whether this will simply pour more pressure on David Shearer's leadership, which as we noted last week is now even being talked about by left-wing bloggers. Grant Robertson has far more ambition than he has political experience, and with the Labour leader's office being stacked with Robertson-friendly staffers, it seems to be a matter of "when" rather than "if". 

And it's just our opinion, but perhaps Labour would be better suggesting to Trevor Mallard that his shoot-first-then-find-out-the-facts-later tactics are the very kind of thing that the public find distasteful, and why they have deserted Labour over the last two elections. Mr Mallard represents "old Labour", and rather than keeping him as a close confidante, Mr Shearer should be asking himself whether that's where the disconnect is stemming from.