A snap political poll taken after last night’s leader’s debate on TV One has revealed that most New Zealanders felt that, in the head-to-head contest between Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader David Cunliffe, TV3 emerged the victor.
42% of respondents said that, after taking a careful look at both leaders, and then a different television channel, TV3 came across as the “most appealing choice.”
8% of respondents disagreed, saying they preferred John Key, while 6% preferred David Cunliffe.
19% preferred TV2, while 15% preferred Four, and another 10% preferred gouging their eyes clean out of their sockets.
Amongst the reasons given for choosing TV3, viewers said it seemed to talk more substance, have a stronger grasp on the issues, and, at 7:30pm, appeared to be constructing more homes than both John Key and David Cunliffe put together.
Key this afternoon dismissed the poll, saying that, at the end of the day, all it amounted to was “numbers.”
“Numbers don’t win elections,” he added.
Cunliffe was more accepting of the poll, but claimed that internal polling by the Labour Party showed him even lower.
He noted that some viewers may not have been watching during the two and a half minute period of the debate where moderator Mike Hosking was not speaking.
“You’d hope, at very least, they saw one of the parts where we talked,” said Cunliffe.
Adding to the wealth of useful statistics surrounding last night’s debate, was TVNZ’s new “mole” technology, which instead of gauging audience reactions through the use of dials, instead measured the hunger levels of viewers watching at home.
Aggregation of that data revealed a series of numbers and graphs.
“We can put those on the TV,” explained TVNZ producer Jonathan Williams. “In colour.”