Policy.Net.Nz Tracks Changing Voter Interests

The second week of the general election has seen voter interests move towards Economic and Tax issues.

Voters who use the internet are giving clear signals of what issues concern them. Page traffic on this service clearly indicates that, in the second week of the campaign, it is Economic and Law&Order policies that they are checking the most. Traffic grew more than +9% in the second week over the first.

Almost 14% of over 5,500 pages viewed in the second week were for Economic and Tax issues, including policy on a wide range of commercial issues, and the full range of tax issues.

The next most popular were policies on Justice and Law&Order (10.8%), Education policy (10.5%), policies on Health (6.0%).

This free service, www.policy.net.nz, gives voters an easy way to compare what the parties stand for, in the words of each party’s own policy.

The crisp, clean layout of each page makes comparison easy.

Each policy comparison features the party logo (hot-linked to the party’s website), the spokesperson (hot-linked to their bio), and five bulleted key points, in the exact words used by the party, on their website. These bulleted points are themselves hot-linked back to the policy document on the party’s website, allowing direct reference to the original source.

The complete site traffic stats for the first two week period of the campaign are as follows:

::::::: Pages Viewed
Issue June 13-19 ::::::: June 6-19

Education::::::: 580::::::: 1,092 10.3%
Economy::::::: 420::::::: 808 7.6%
Health::::::: 333::::::: 639 6.0%
Tax::::::: 348::::::: 646 6.1%
Defence::::::: 298::::::: 588 5.6%
Justice::::::: 301::::::: 585 5.5%
Law & Order::::::: 295::::::: 574 5.4%
Treaty of Waitangi::::::: 251::::::: 528 5.0%
Communications::::::: 257::::::: 529 5.0%
Special Interests::::::: 271::::::: 535 5.1%
Social Welfare::::::: 271::::::: 512 4.8%
Environment::::::: 276::::::: 489 4.6%
Immigration::::::: 229::::::: 440 4.2%
Arts & Culture::::::: 184::::::: 370 3.5%
Transport::::::: 144::::::: 311 2.9%
Foreign Policy::::::: 183::::::: 341 3.2%
Science&Research::::::: 269::::::: 421 4.0%
Industrial Relations::::::: 143::::::: 286 2.7%
Housing::::::: 137::::::: 268 2.5%
Philosophy::::::: 139::::::: 260 2.5%
Energy::::::: 99::::::: 186 1.8%
Government::::::: 97::::::: 181 1.7%

Totals:::::::5,525 ::::::: 10,589
change 9.1%

These categories match those used on the website, and each can be opened to reveal many sub issues. More than 150 specific policy areas are analysed on the site.

The site has no editorial or commentary, and takes no position on any issue.

For more information, contact

David Chaston, Publisher

JDL
PO Box 47-756, Ponsonby
Auckland

Ph: (021) 997-311
Fx: (09) 376-1282
dchaston@policy.net.nz

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