National's wannabe Finance Minister Paul Goldsmith is refusing to take responsibility for his party's abysmal result in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll.
Goldsmith says he won't be offering his resignation to National leader Judith Collins over the damage caused by his $4 billion fiscal hole, but on the latest poll numbers, he's out of Parliament anyway.
Goldsmith is facing up to National polling under 30 percent in Newshub's latest poll, which also has Labour on 50.1 percent - enough for it govern alone.
"The number one word to describe 2020 would be volatility and expect the unexpected," Goldsmith told the Mood of the Boardroom in Auckland on Monday. "We've got 19 days, we're going to keep fighting and anything can happen."
The so-called party of the economy should've had a vote bounce from its proposed tax cuts. But then Goldsmith started digging fiscal holes - billions of them. However, he's not taking responsibility for it.
"We're all doing our best in our party," he said on Monday.
Goldsmith wouldn't confirm when asked by Newshub if he's apologised to his National Party caucus colleagues over the fiscal hole debacle.
"We're all focussed on winning the election."
As for why he didn't offer his resignation, Goldsmith said: "Because everybody makes mistakes."
But his mistakes may have him searching for a new career regardless. Goldsmith is a list MP - he's gifted his Epsom seat to ACT and with National polling so low, the list MPs get cut.
Nevertheless, Goldsmith is confident he'll be back in Parliament.
"We're going to do a lot better in the next two weeks."
Labour's finance spokesperson Grant Robertson says Goldsmith should take the blame.
"Paul has to take responsibility for the fact that he is the finance spokesperson who put that plan out," he told Newshub.
Robertson says if he made that kind of mistake with one of his Budgets he'd consider giving himself the axe.
"I think you would think seriously about that."
Elections are won and lost on the economy, and in Newshub's latest poll Labour is mopping up.
The Newshub-Reid Research poll asked voters: Who do you trust to run the economy through and post-COVID-19?
Most voters - 55.1 percent - trust a Labour-led Government under Jacinda Ardern, versus 34.9 percent who trust National under Judith Collins, while 10 percent were undecided or didn't know.
Goldsmith says he's focused on the 100,000 New Zealanders who may lose their job.
"The best thing we can do is have a strong economy," he said.
Strong economy - it was supposed to be National's rallying cry and it now just risks serving as a reminder of how the party lost its way.
