spinning a referendum on MMP

Graeme Hunt doesn't like MMP. So he got UMR Research to ask 750 people what they thought and concluded that there is strong support for a referendum.

Yet 43 percent of those polled had a neutral opinion on MMP. That's not strong support. In fact a higher percentage thought MMP was had a positive impact rather than negative - nearly twice as many, in fact. Look at his justification.

"What New Zealanders are unhappy with is the power MMP grants to small parties which are unable to win constituency seats. They don't want to see the tail wagging the dog as happened over the anti-smacking debate."

Actually, at the end of the smacking debate, the dog wagged the tail. That's why the legislation passed. Furthermore how many small parties are in parliament that have not gained constituency seats? One. How many parties are in Parliament that have not had a party member who was an MP previously - none.

There appears to be more opposition to the list than the minor parties. But Hunt doesn't want to spin that way because he supports the supplementary system.Hunt is the author of Why MMP Must Go: The Case for Ditching the Electoral Disaster of the Century. Yet the interpretation of his UMR poll is just spin in line with the book - and even then it doesn't measure up.