Wellington, Nov 6 NZPA - Voters see National as best qualified to steer New Zealand through troubled economic times, a Herald-DigiPoll survey says.

Labour had been touting itself as providing strong and proven leadership as the world economy stumbles, but its message appeared to have not hit home.

In the poll, 49.6 percent of voters rated National best-placed to handle the economy, ahead of 40.7 percent backing Labour.

In the DigiPoll survey 32 percent rated the economy as the issue most likely to influence votes, ahead of law and order, which registered 19.2 per cent, with leadership third at 14.5 percent.

* The poll of 700 people was conducted between October 29 and November 2 and has a margin of error of 3.7 per cent.

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