A large number of Tauranga voters surveyed don't know who they're voting for. Photo/file
A quarter of Tauranga voters are backing the National Party and MP Simon Bridges, but more are yet to decide where to put their vote, according to a new survey.
In the last two weeks, the Bay of Plenty Times has undertaken a random street survey of voters in the Tauranga electorate asking which party and local candidate they would vote for ahead of the September 23 General Election.
More than a third of voters were still undecided and 26 out of 100 said they would vote for National and its Tauranga candidate Simon Bridges.
A total of 38 out of 100 did not know which party they would vote for and 40 out of 100 had not yet picked a Tauranga candidate.
The voters who were still undecided said they were not yet educated on each party's policies or were not yet enrolled.
The Green Party received seven out of 100 votes, Labour received eight, Maori Party two, New Zealand First nine, and seven said they were not voting.
Tauranga's Green Party candidate Emma-Leigh Hodge received five votes, The Opportunities Party received four, NZ First's Clayton Mitchell received seven, and Labour's Jan Tinetti received 11.
Independent candidate Rusty Kane and ACT's Stuart Pedersen did not receive any votes, and seven said they were not voting.
Simon Bridges said he was "humbled" and grateful to receive ongoing support from Tauranga voters, but did not want to count his chickens just yet.
"I take my role very seriously and plan to continue working really hard for the people of Tauranga."
If he was re-elected, Mr Bridges said he would continue campaigning for a city museum and ensuring the government provided social housing and health care to those who needed it.
Mr Bridges said there were plenty of reasons why people did not yet know who they were voting for.
"It may well be that people are keeping their cards close to their chest. Some people have not really thought about it and will do much closer to the time."
He was confident people would be voting much earlier in this year's election.
"Last time we saw a lot more people who made up their mind and they went in to vote early. I think we will see that again this year."
Labour's Tauranga candidate Jan Tinetti said she had been door knocking people and meeting people face-to-face as part of their campaign.
"We are picking up a lot of people who want a change," Tinetti said.
"They are unsure what that change was going to look like at the moment, but that is where it is important to put out what our policies are."
Ms Tinetti said people were weighing up each party's policies before deciding who to vote for.
Tauranga candidate for ACT Stuart Pedersen was not surprised that a number of people did not yet know who they were voting for.
"There is quite a lot of uncertainty out there which is good because it means the votes are there for grabbing."
Independent candidate Rusty Kane said he did not receive any votes because he was not a member of a party and people did not yet know who he was.
"I will be giving a voice to the many voters who do not exercise their right, and those disillusioned with the MMP system and NZ politics in general."
NZ First candidate Clayton Mitchell said the votes aligned with the last election.
"I think we are going really well as a party, but we have got a long way to go to get our message out."
He said people were still undecided because they were starting to question who they had traditionally voted for.
"People who have largely voted in the past was a historical attachment."
Tauranga's Green Party candidate Emma-Leigh Hodge said she was not too concerned with the poll results at this stage.
Ms Hodge believed the proportion of undecided responses was indicative of the early stages of the election in terms of people's engagement.
"What is important for us is to focus on our growing ground campaign to get out there, listen to our community, and get people excited about the change a strong Green vote will bring."
TOP's Vanessa Lee said it was a great start to the election campaign.
Ms Lee said TOP received a low number of votes because it was a brand-new party offering solution-based policies that offered true change.
"Some people are afraid of change," she said.
The number of undecided votes indicated the amount of "disenfranchised voters" in Tauranga.
TOP's goal to increase votes was to ultimately create a fully informed public.
"I look forward to getting out and about in the community to make sure this happens," Lee said.
VOTING POLL:
ACT: 0
Conservative: 0
Greens: 7
Labour: 8
Maori: 2
National: 26
NZ First: 9
TOP: 2
United Future: 0
Other: 1
Don't know: 38
Not voting: 7
Simon Bridges (National): 26
Emma-Leigh Hodge (Greens): 5
Rusty Kane: (Independent): 0
Vanessa Lee (TOP): 4
Clayton Mitchell (NZ First): 7
Stuart Pedersen (ACT): 0
Jan Tinetti (Labour): 11
Other: 0
Don't know: 40
Not voting: 7