A poll of Maori voters echoes June's Te Tai Tokerau byelection result and suggests Mana Party leader Hone Harawira's own mana is on the wane.
Mr Harawira said the result showing the race too close to call between himself and Labour List MP Kelvin Davis was a wake-up call. He said he needed to put in the hard yards in his electorate to rebuild his former strong support.
Mr Harawira's party polled at 28.6 per cent and Labour at 30.2 per cent in a recent TVNZ-commissioned DigiPoll; however, the difference is less than the margin of error.
Commentators say the 97 Maori voters surveyed in Te Tai Tokerau (and 1002 nationwide) was too small a number to be meaningful. The poll also only surveyed the party vote, not politicians.
One of the surprises across its national gamut related to another Northland politician - almost half the 1002 voters polled wanted Shane Jones to take over the Labour Party leadership from Phil Goff.