National up, Labour down in new poll

Support for National remains strong in the first political poll of the year, but the outcome would be too close to call in an election.

The Roy Morgan poll, conducted in the first weeks of January and released yesterday, shows support for John Key's National Party was up half a per cent to 46 per cent.

Support for David Shearer's Labour Party was down 2 per cent to 31.5 per cent.

National support partners Act and United Future were on 0.5 per cent each, while the Maori Party was on 2 per cent. Act was down half a per cent, while United Future and the Maori Party were each up half a per cent.

The Green Party was up 1 per cent, to 12 per cent, while the Mana Party was down half a per cent, to 0.5 per cent.

Support for New Zealand First remained unchanged on 5 per cent.

Pollster Gary Morgan said the first poll of the year showed National was "holding a strong lead" over Labour.

But if the result was reflected in an election held today, the outcome would be too close to call.

The telephone poll of 1865 eligible voters was conducted between January 2-14.