It's official; all polls now have Labour in the 20's

Up until the end of June, there was a glimmer of hope for David Cunliffe and the Labour Party. One poll still had Labour polling in to 30's; the Herald DigiPoll (30.5%).

Sadly (if you're a Labour MP or supporter) the new Herald DigiPoll is out today, and it has fallen into step with all the other polls; the Herald reports:

Labour's support has slumped to its worst rating for 15 years in the latest DigiPoll survey, putting critical pressure on leader David Cunliffe.
Its 26.5 per cent support is a slide of four points since June.
With just two months to the election, Labour could slip into the disastrous territory held by National in 2002, when it polled 20.93 per cent in the face of the highly popular Labour Government.
On this poll of decided voters National would be able to govern alone comfortably and gain another 10 MPs.
National has jumped 4.5 points to 54.9 per cent. A Stuff/Ipsos poll earlier this week also put support for National at 54.8 per cent.
Prime Minister John Key is more popular than he has ever been, scoring preferred prime minister on 73.3 per cent, compared with Cunliffe on 10.5 per cent and New Zealand First's Winston Peters on 5.5 per cent.

This is another dreadful poll result for Labour and its leader David Cunliffe. Parliament resumes on Tuesday for its final two-week sitting before the General Election, and Labour's support is crumbling. The education policies announced at the party's congress a fortnight ago appear to have been rejected by voters. Either that, or the phone is off the hook, and nothing that Labour promises is going to connect with voters.

Here's how the Parliament would look under DigiPoll's numbers:

We understand there's a 3News poll out tonight as well. If that also shows Labour in the 20's, that will make four of the five main polls telling the same story in a matter of four days, with only the One News-Colmar Brunton poll remaining to complete the July cycle.

And we'll leave the last word on this poll to veteran leftie activist Chris Trotter. Asked for comment by the Herald, he has told the truth:

Political commentator Chris Trotter said the poll indicated Labour was "more or less bereft of hope".
"Labour is in an extremely parlous position, and the situation is deteriorating."

There's only one question left to be asked; how low can Labour go?
 

"Labour's moved away from me, I've never moved away from Labour."

The words in the title line for this post are in quotation marks because they are indeed a quote. They're a quote from former Labour MP and Minister Dover Samuels who will not be giving his party vote to Labour this year; the Herald reports:

Former Labour minister Dover Samuels says he won't be voting for the party at the election.
He cited the party's opposition to the Puhoi to Wellsford extension and Leader David Cunliffe's "prima donna grandstanding" over the issue of sexual violence.
The former Maori Affairs Minister who now serves on the Northland Regional Council confirmed the Herald this morning he did not intend giving his party vote to Labour.
"Labour's moved away from me, I've never moved away from Labour. I'm as staunch of the principles of Labour as I ever was, since the days of Mickey Savage."
He indicated he would be voting for NZ First.
"Winston Peters has been somebody that certainly has been an advocate of the regions and I'm a regional councillor and I find that spokespersons for the Labour Party have really turned their backs on some of the initiatives that the Northland Council have been advocating."

He pointed to Labour's plan to indefinitely postpone the Puhoi to Wellsford extension which it derides as "the holiday highway".
" I don't know where they got that from but the Puhoi road is integral to Northland's economic future."

The Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance is a no-brainer. The events of the last ten days have shown how vulnerable road access to Northland is. And the section of road between Puhoi and Wellsford is one of the worst sections of State Highway One in the North Island. A major upgrade is years overdue.

Labour and the Greens do themselves no favours with their "holiday highway" bleats, an obvious reference to John Key owning a beach house at Omaha. But for the people anywhere north of Puhoi, the road is their lifeline to New Zealand; especially those who are in the business of getting their products to customers.

Dover Samuels is going to give his Te Tai Tokerau electorate vote to Labour's Kelvin Davis, who also supports the Puhoi to Wellsford RONS. So he should, especially if Labour has been sending out coded messages that voters should ensure MegaMana should be a part of the 51st Parliament. But instead of wasting his party vote on Winston First, we reckon Dover Samuels should give it to National; the only one of the major parties that already has a plan and a timeframe to build Puhoi to Wellsford. This will create jobs in the construction phase, and along with other roading initiatives announced a few weeks ago, greatly improve Northland's roading network.

And Dover Samuels, who told Mark Sainsbury on RadioLive yesterday that he has talked to David Cunliffe about his decision had some sensible advice for the Labour Party: