White is 37 on her party list, while Lee is 30, meaning they need to win the seat to remain in Parliament.
The Greens’ Ricardo Menendez March was on 14%, and Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong on 10%.
Act’s Alex Price (3%) and NZ First’s Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri (5%) trailed but said they were campaigning for the party vote only.
Lee faced a tough question – would she be happy to become the MP if it meant Finance Minister Nicola Willis was out of Parliament?
On current polling, National would lose most of its list MPs, depending on how many electorates the party wins.
“That’s a hard one,” Lee said, avoiding the question, while saying Willis was an excellent Finance Minister.
“I’d love to be the local MP.”
White appeared to have the most local knowledge in a pop quiz from moderator Toby Manhire.
She said she’d fight to save the Carrington Hospital from destruction and save the Pt Chevalier bowls club.
But she might have some issues with her leader, Chris Hipkins.
When asked by moderator Toby Manhire how they ranked their leaders out of 10, most gave their leader 10 (to no one’s surprise).
All except White, and Wong (who abstained, saying it wasn’t right to rate herself).
The Labour MP gave Hipkins 9 out of 10, to loud laughter and shock from the audience.
“That’s because he can always reflect on what he can do better. We have a leader who listens and talks to their caucus and collaborates,” White said.
The Spinoff/Curia poll also showed National and Labour neck and neck at 32% in the party vote, similar to national polling.
The Greens were on 19%, Opportunity and NZ First at 6% and Act on 3%. Polling was carried out between September 21 and 28.
The debate became heated at times when discussing supermarket policy, immigration and the cost of living.
Referring to NZ First’s pledge to buy back the BNZ, Menendez-March said: “Isn’t it interesting that introducing a third supermarket is communism, but nationalising a bank isn’t.”
Eden-Whaitiri later hit back: “If Ricardo is running the supermarket, if it’s got the rainbow tick or it’s honouring the Treaty it goes on the shelves.”
The New Zealand First candidate also upset other politicians by saying immigration was the source of many of the electorate’s issues.
Homelessness in Mt Albert has also increased in recent years, with all candidates agreeing more needed to be done to solve the social problems that had led to that.
Katie Bradford is a senior correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.