Radio NZ Piggy-Backs On NBR-HP Invent Poll

RADIO NEW ZEALAND PIGGY-BACKS ON NBR-HP INVENT POLL

Radio New Zealand has piggy-backed on the NBR-HP Invent public opinion poll with its story about four out of 10 National voters preferring Labour so it would not have to depend on the Greens in a coalition.

The actual question, which was posed only to non-Labour and non-Green preferring respondents, asked: Would you consider changing your vote to Labour so that Labour would not have to rely on the Greens?

The responses came from 361 of the 750 survey base and just over half (187) had indicated a preference for National. Of these, a total of 39% were ”very” or “fairly” serious about changing their voting intentions. For Act, those same categories were 26 per cent while for the Progressive Coalition (Jim Anderton party) it was an overwhelming 74 per cent, though the total respondents was only eight. For NZ First it was 22 per cent.

National and Act officials have expressed surprise (not to say anger) at how Radio NZ has posed and used this question. They may even complain to the polling company, UMR Research.

For its part, The National Business Review has denied any knowledge of the question, taken as part of the monthly UMR Omnibus survey from which its own poll is drawn, and has criticised Radio NZ for its misleading use of it.

“We have no problem with Radio NZ paying for polls, as other news media organisations do, but linking it to ours is unprofessional and misleading,” NBR editor-in-chief Nevil Gibson said.

“They are using the objectivity and credibility of our long-standing poll with a question that could be viewed as loaded and political.

“By contrast, The Dominion uses UMR Research for a regular poll on MMP but publishes it on a different day from ours and does not link it to ours.”

NEVIL GIBSON
EDITOR IN CHIEF
NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW

For further details on the NBR-HP Invent Poll see http://www.nbr.co.nz

© Scoop Media