New Zealanders have the highest level of understanding of MMP in a pre-election period since 1996, when the voting system was first used, says the Electoral Commission.
Its telephone survey of 3,000 people carried out in July and August found 67% of those questioned correctly identified the party vote as more important than the electorate vote when determining how many MPs each party gets.
One fifth said MMP was hard to understand, compared to one quarter of those surveyed last year.
The commission says people's knowledge of MMP usually increases in the lead-up to election day.
