Greens' support among Māori voters rises, poll finds

Support for the Green Party has risen among Māori voters, according to a Mata-Horizon Research poll. The poll found 28 percent of Māori voters would give the party their party vote.

The party vote is the ballot that decides how many seats each party gets in Parliament under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system. The Māori seats are the seven electorates reserved for voters on the Māori roll, a separate electoral roll that Māori voters can choose to enrol on.

RNZ reported that in the Waiariki electorate, the Greens won 5 percent of the party vote at the last election. The party is now polling at 46 percent there.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said part of the reason for the increase is the party's long-standing position on upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi.

Davidson also said the Greens had benefited "a little bit" from the campaign by Te Pati Māori, the Māori Party, which is asking voters to back its candidates in the electorate vote only. She said the growth in Green support and the party's wider support outweighed that effect.

The Greens' rise is also visible in national polling. A 1News-Verian poll published on 13 October put Green Party support at 15 percent nationwide.

Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick are the party's co-leaders.