Labour still looking for game-changer

Labour is still in search of a game-changer, if the results of today's Fairfax Media/Research International poll are a guide.

It is on 31.3 per cent support, trailing National on 52.6 per cent, while John Key still leads the preferred prime minister stakes by a whopping 52.8 per cent to Phil Goff's 9.1 per cent.

Since announcing its capital gains tax, followed by the even riskier plan to raise the retirement age and make KiwiSaver compulsory, Mr Goff's intentions have been clear – to shake up perceptions of Labour and his leadership, and get voters to take a fresh look after they tuned out for the past three years.

There is no indication, on today's poll results, that any of it has worked.

Labour has made up some lost ground – and the pollsters say the 3.2 per cent lift in its support since Fairfax's last poll is statistically significant. It had always banked on the party and Mr Goff getting a lift from a higher profile once the campaign proper was under way, and it appears they have got that.

Labour has had momentum; events – such as the Rena grounding – have conspired in its favour, for once; and it has had plenty of headlines.

But none of it has had the impact of "Corngate" in 2002, Peter Dunne's "worm", also in 2002, or the Exclusive Brethren revelations in 2005, which arguably cost National an election.

Labour remains 20-plus points behind National and it is becoming harder to see what similar event might, in the next three weeks, break the bond between the voters and John Key.

Tonight, John Key and Phil Goff square off again in The Press leaders' debate, streamed live on press.co.nz, stuff.co.nz and dompost.co.nz.