(PR.co.nz) The Green Party of New Zealand is receiving increasing support among Kiwi voters, according to New Zealand’s largest pre-election poll.
With more than 17,000 votes cast in the first week of Muffin Break’s Bean Poll, the Greens are enjoying 17% support, up considerably on the 7% it currently has in Parliament.
“This is an encouraging result for the Green Party. We hope that come election day, the caffeinated masses will flock to the polls and vote Green,” says Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei.
“We hope that voters will not be deterred from the prospect of voting without the reward of a long black and a delicious muffin.”
The Green Party sits just 10% behind its closest rival, the Labour Party, which received 27% of the vote during the Bean Poll’s first week.
Out in front is the National Party, with 39% of votes, while the ACT Party is sitting right on the 5% threshold needed to secure a place in Parliament if it fails to win an electorate seat. Other parties make up the remaining 12%.
With no party reaching the threshold needed to govern alone, the results could mean that the minor parties become key players in forming a coalition. Combined, National and ACT are enjoying 44% of the votes, as does Labour and the Greens combined.
Muffin Break’s Bean Poll has been held in New Zealand in the month prior to the last three general elections and has accurately predicted the winner each time.
Customers at Muffin Break’s 36 stores from Whangarei to Dunedin simply cast their vote with a coffee bean by placing it into the relevant holder for their preferred party. Those who can’t make it into a store are able to vote on the website – http://www.muffinbreak.co.nz.
The Bean Poll is biggest poll of its kind in the country. More than 120,000 people cast their vote via coffee bean in the four weeks leading up to the 2008 general election.
Media Release 14 November 2011.