said he remained a "family friend", although she felt "incredibly let down" by him. On opinion polls prior to the 2014 election Although it was difficult to gauge the New Zealand public's views on the contents of Dirty Politics, Television New Zealand's Vote Compass tool provided a rough indication. Based on over 13,000 responses up to 25 August 2014, Vote Compass suggests that 33% thought there was "none" or "little" truth to the claims in the book, 49% said there "some" or "a lot" of truth, and 18% didn't know. In terms of the effect of the book on voting intentions, 56% said it wouldn't have an effect, 15% said it would have a "little" effect, 11% "some", 10% "a lot", and 8% said they didn't know. There is also some evidence to suggest that the number of people who believed the book's claims had grown over time. A number of polls were held during the intense publicity surrounding Dirty Politics and showed the National Party losing support. Towards the end of August 2014, two weeks after the release of the book, National was still way ahead at 50.8%, but down 4.3% on previous figures. John Key also lost ground as preferred prime minister. The Radio New Zealand Poll of Polls (an arithmetical average of the four most recent major polls) showed National had slid below 50% to 49.1% as at 29 August. The Prime Minister frequently tried to deflect media interest from Dirty Politics arguing that most people were more interested in other election issues. Once Judith Collins resigned, three polls including the Herald DigiPoll survey, all showed National support had gone back up to 50% while Labour continued to drop. At his first campaign appearance in the Epsom electorate on 6 September, Key said the polls were showing the public had moved on. New Zealand Herald columnist John Armstrong noted that Collins was pushed into resigning and said: "When Key sacked Judith Collins, the headlines screamed 'National in chaos'. In fact, removing Collins was the vital first move in getting National's campaign back on track. Hager's book looks like having no material impact on the outcome of the election." On the 2014 election John Key's National Party was re-elected to government after it received 47.04% of the party vote in the September 2014 general election. Judith Collins retained her seat in Papakura, but her winning margin over the