Even Green voters support Three Strikes

5th June 2018

A poll released last Saturday on public support for the Three Strikes law showed the expected high level of overall public support, with 68% of the 965 adults polled in the sample approving of the Three Strikes law.

“What did surprise us was the unexpectedly high level of Green Party voters who supported it, 48%, or almost half of those polled. This is both hugely surprising and somewhat reassuring” said Sensible Sentencing Trust Founder Garth McVicar.

“It was no surprise to find that 78% of National voters supported three strikes, and equally unsurprising that 66% of New Zealand First voters supported it. What was a pleasant surprise was the support on the left of the political spectrum: 63% of Labour votes support retaining three strikes, but the biggest surprise was the Greens – 48% of Greenvoters, in answer to the poll question ‘Do you approve or disapprove of this law?” said YES, they approved of it” McVicar said.

“That was a massive and very pleasant surprise for us. It would be fair to say that the Green Party – or at least its caucus – takes the polar opposite position to us when it comes to law and order matters generally. We are in favour of criminals being held to account and imprisoned for lengthy periods if they are violent offenders; the Greens favor some nebulous and never quite explained ‘alternative approach’. But Green voters are showing that they are much more realistic than their MP’s, and they recognize that Three Strikes is locking up only the really bad buggers, recidivist violent offenders for whom there is no realistic alternative to prison” said McVicar.

“This poll gives the lie to Andrew Little’s nonsense claim that the majority of the public support the repeal of Three Strikes and his yet to be spelled out alternative. 63% of Little’s own voters support retention of the law, and the vast majority of non Labour voting New Zealanders agree with them, and not Mr. Little” McVicar said.

“It is not too late for Little and his colleagues to start listening to what the public is telling them, and what they are telling him is very clear: a huge majority of New Zealanders recognize that the Three Strikes law is working exactly as intended, that it is only targeting the worst repeat violent offenders, and even though the number of strike offenders is small, they are all people who belong in jail. We urge Mr. Little to start listening to his constituents and to the rest of middle New Zealand. He has in the past expressed some confusion about where to find ‘middle New Zealand’. Former leader Helen Clark will no doubt assist him in that regard if he asks her.” ENDS

http://• Three Strikes Poll Results March 2018.doc

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