The gap is tightening for both the cannabis and euthanasia referendums, according to the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll.
For the End of Life Choice Bill, 60 per cent of respondents said they are voting “yes”, while 33 per cent say “no”.
Palliative care nurse Dion Howard, who is opposing the referendum, said he was hopeful people would see that the issue needed a “really cautious approach”.
Meanwhile, Jessica Young from the Say Yes campaign said it is good to see people meaningfully engaged “on this important choice”.
“It's an important choice for people at the end of life too. These are the people that are affected by this legislation passing or not passing at the referendum,” she said.
Both major parties have slipped back a notch, according to the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll.
For the cannabis legalisation and control referendum, 41 per cent of respondents say “yes”, and 51 per cent say “no”.
“I think the tightening does tally with the feeling that there's been a mood shift on the issue,” said Russell Brown, a pro-cannabis campaigner and a journalist who had covered drug policy for 25 years.
Say Nope to Dope campaigner Aaron Ironside said the poll results appeared to show “the average Kiwi common sense will prevail and people will realise legalisation won't work”.
Professor Jack Vowles, a voter behaviour expert at Victoria University of Wellington, said for people who hadn’t been paying much attention or have a provisional opinion, more research or seeing an influential piece of advertising could change their mind.
Preliminary results for the referendum will be released on October 30, with final results confirmed on November 6.
Between October 10-14, 2020, 1005 eligible voters were polled by landline (403) or mobile phone (602). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. For Party Support, percentages have been rounded up or down to whole numbers.
The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, ethnic identification and mobile or landline access.
***
VOTE COMPASS - With the election campaign coming to an end, take this opportunity to participate in Vote Compass, a survey tool which lets you see how your views match up with party policies - go to tvnz.co.nz/VoteCompass
SHARE ME