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Bean poll voters flag their ensign
16 March 2016
Bean poll voters flag their ensign
Kiwi coffee drinkers are making their opinions heard in the flag debate – and the current New Zealand flag has a commanding lead over the Kyle Lockwood option.
National bakery café business Muffin Break has repeated its popular bean poll from last year and after the first week of voting nationally the current flag has commanded 63 per cent support.
The blue and black silver fern flag has however garnered only 37 per cent support across the country – except in Hamilton where the ratios are almost exactly reversed and the ‘new’ flag is the clear leader.
The current flag has its biggest support in Auckland and the Regional North Island where 66.7 per cent of bean poll voters opted for it. Its lowest support – apart from in Hamilton - is in Christchurch (61.5 per cent support) where the proposed new flag garnered 38.5 per cent of votes.
The results after one week of voting (to 12 noon, Thursday 10 March):
| Regions - Total % of the vote for the week ending 10 March | Current Flag % | Silver Fern (black, silver, blue) % |
| Christchurch | 61.50 | 38.50 |
| Auckland | 66.70 | 33.30 |
| Regional North Island | 66.70 | 33.30 |
| Wellington | 62.50 | 37.50 |
| Regional South Island | 62.50 | 37.50 |
| Hamilton | 33.30 | 66.70 |
| South Island | 62.50 | 37.50 |
| North Island | 62.90 | 37.10 |
| National | 62.7% | 37.3% |
Muffin Break’s bean poll has enjoyed considerable success when predicting the trends of various New Zealand elections since its introduction more than 10 years ago.
The ‘Flag Poll’ is open to every customer who purchases a coffee at Muffin Break between 3 and 24 March. Patrons get a single bean with their coffees which they drop in to a store ‘ballot box’ according to their preferred flag.
The bean poll is installed in all of the 42 Muffin Break stores nationwide, and Muffin Break is sharing progress on its Facebook page from March 10.
www.facebook.com/MuffinBreakNZ
ends
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