They're not useful for predicting the next parliament - and even very close to elections aren't particularly good at that either. But can be used to compare periods in a parliamentary term to see how one government is performing compared to others etc.

Eg maybe the better thought from the journos isn't "labour could form govt" but after 6 months do most governments go up, or down in polling; and what does it say if this poll shows a divergence or continuation of that trend etc.

[–] biddy@feddit.nl 1 points 6 months ago

Why? It's called an opinion poll for a reason. This tells us nothing about the 2026 election, but it's helpful to get an idea what people think.

[–] Xcf456 1 points 6 months ago

Labour and National wouldn't be paying to run them constantly if they were useless. They're not crystal balling the next election but they have value as a snapshot of public sentiment