Election 2020: New poll shows Māori Party's John Tamihere in the race for Tāmaki Makaurau

Māori Party co-leader John Tamihere is running for the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A new poll shows Māori Party co-leader John Tamihere within striking distance of Labour's Peeni Henare in the race for Tāmaki Makaurau.

It is one of three Labour-held seats - the others being Te Tai Hauāuru and Waiariki - which Tamihere says could fall to the Māori Party.

The poll, done by Curia for Māori Television, puts incumbent Henare in the lead on 35 per cent and Tamihere on 29 per cent.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is third on 14 per cent.

Tamihere is seventh on the Māori Party list, which essentially means his only path back to Parliament is by winning the seat.

His strategy includes telling voters that Labour's Māori electorate MPs will return to Parliament even if they lose their seats because of their list positions; the lowest-ranked is Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey at number 37.

In 2017, Labour's Māori electorate MPs weren't on the party list in an effort to shore up electorate votes.

Labour Party and Tāmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare. Photo / Jason Oxenham

On other issues, more than half - 55 per cent - of the poll's respondents said they supported the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, while 29 per cent were against it.

That could be a response to the way the law is disproportionately applied to Māori, who are three times more likely to be arrested and convicted of a cannabis-related crime.

A new drug law brought into force last year has not changed that, according to a Herald investigation.

An expert panel on cannabis - led by the PM's chief science advisor Dr Juliet Gerrard - describes the way cannabis laws are applied as "systemic racism".

Half of the poll's respondents supported the End of Life Choice Act, while a third were against it.

More than half - 57 per cent - said they would vote Labour if polling day were today, with 9 per cent supporting the Māori Party, 7 per cent the Greens, 5 per cent NZ First and 3 per cent the National Party.

If Labour formed the next government in coalition with another party, 54 per cent wanted the Greens to Labour's partner, while 42 per cent wanted the Māori Party.

The economy (11 per cent) and housing (11 per cent) topped the list of voter priorities, followed by policies (8 per cent), Covid-19 (7 per cent) and leaders (7 per cent).

About one in five had someone in their household lose their job because of Covid-19.

The poll was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday this week and had 500 respondents. It has a margin of error of 4.4 per cent.