'The 1 News-Kantar Polls Are Worthless, And Show Why We Need Strict Control Of Election Polls,' States Ted Johnston
"They appear to be completely absurd, incorrect, and damaging to the elections of people unfortunate enough to be victims of such shonky looking polls.
Like myself and possibly Collins here.
On the Ratepayers polls, 11 to 18 September 22, I am a solid 4th position just behind Lord. This carries on the solid trend just as I was from July and August.
Yet in both of these obviously ridiculous new September 1News -Kantar tv polls, I have supposedly dropped to 17th place out of 23, behind almost all the other mayoral candidates, many who never made a public mayoral appearance or speech the entire campaign, and others who never set foot in Auckland, during the campaign.
The Kantar polls results are obviously impossible. A cynical person may believe it appears to be a set up.
It even draws into doubt the excessive lead given to Brown over Collins.
The biggest problem is that the public will believe them and they become self-fulfilling.
The Kantar polls are completely out of kilter, especially as they use self-selected online panels. This can allow people with set interests to twist polls.
They point out how dangerous polls can be in undermining our democracy, and affecting elections. As such we need to have strict polling legislation to protect the integrity of our elections.
I stand to protect the integrity of our democracy."