Northland byelection: I'm not out of race, says Osborne

Mark Osborne said he still believed it would be a "very tight" race. Photo / Claire Trevett

National's Northland byelection candidate Mark Osborne told supporters to brace themselves for some bad polls yesterday but insisted he was not out of the race.

With just two days of campaigning left, National is looking to boost its campaign after a 3 News-Reid Research poll last night put Mr Osborne on 34 per cent - well behind NZ First leader Winston Peters on 54 per cent. Three weeks ago, the same poll had Mr Peters on 35 per cent and Mr Osborne on 30. It indicated Labour's nod to its voters to choose Mr Peters had caught on - Labour's candidate Willow Jean Prime had dropped from 16 to 10 per cent.

Despite Mr Peters' high result, only 43 per cent of the 500 Northland voters polled said they trusted Mr Peters while 48 per cent did not.

Yesterday, a cock-a-hoop Mr Peters told an encouraging crowd in Paihia to take him on in a two-and-a-half year trial and if he didn't do better than National in that time they could kick him out in 2017.

A more despondent Mr Osborne told a small audience of councillors and business people in Kaikohe that a poll was coming and while it was bad news, he still believed it would be a "very tight race".

The poll also showed National's "10 bridges" promise was regarded as a "bribe" by three-quarters of the 500 Northland voters polled, although 58 per cent also agreed the upgrades should go ahead.

Asked later why he was now struggling in what was always a safe National seat, Mr Osborne said byelections were always a struggle but National was best placed to make the infrastructure improvements people wanted.

National is calling in its big guns for the home straight of the campaign - Prime Minister John Key is going to Dargaville, straight off a flight from Japan today to try to salvage National's chances.

He said yesterday National was now "the underdog".

One of National's supporters at the event, Ken Rintoul, said Mr Peters could be a good MP but if he won the seat he wouldn't hold it for long.

"If people are voting for Winston, they're hoping National will lift its game in Northland to get it back. I'll put money on it that if Winston gets it this time he won't get it next time."