Inaugural New Zealand Issues Monitor Reveals
What is Most Worrying New Zealanders


Auckland, 8 May 2018 – Global market research company Ipsos has released the results of the inaugural New Zealand Issues Monitor survey. Based on the influential Australian Ipsos Issues Monitor that has been running for eight years, the New Zealand Ipsos Issues Monitor reveals the key issues concerning New Zealanders today.
Key results:
• When asked to select from 20 issues, the top six issues facing New Zealanders are dominated by housing accessibility and affordability (selected by 41% of people), followed by poverty and inequality (29%) and healthcare (27%).
• Housing issues are the biggest concern for New Zealanders (41%) whereas Australians are mostly
concerned with healthcare, crime and living costs (both cited by 32% of Australians).
• Australians are twice as concerned with the economy as New Zealanders (22% c/f 11% respectively).
• Wealthier households are more concerned about crime (mentioned by 26% of those earning $100k+) and poorer households are more concerned about healthcare (34% of those earning less than $30k).
• After housing, men are more concerned with crime (mentioned by 27%) whereas women are more concerned with poverty and inequality (34%).

Carin Hercock, Managing Director of Ipsos New Zealand, said: “Ipsos is a global leader in Public Affairs research so it is exciting to now be able to offer this ongoing tracking survey of what is concerning New Zealanders and which political parties they feel have the answers. Having tracked these issues in Australia since 2010 we have seen clearly how the issues of the day have been closely reflected in our surveying, which gets past the headline makers and shows what everyday people are thinking. This will be the first of many Ipsos studies reflecting the mood of the nation and key issues facing society, that we will release on an ongoing basis. Many of these will be directly comparable with Australia and many of the other 80+ countries in which Ipsos operates.
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Commenting on the results of this first report Jonathan Dodd, Research Director of Ipsos New Zealand, said “In the results we see big generational differences amongst New Zealanders, with older people more concerned about healthcare and younger people much more concerned with the cost of living than their elders. Interestingly, the huge concerns about housing are felt across all income groups – whether you’re rich or poor, housing is the big worry for New Zealanders.

New Zealanders are much more concerned about affordable housing and poverty than Australians, who are twice as concerned about the economy than Kiwis.”

The Ipsos survey also asked respondents to name the political party they believed is most capable of managing each of the issues. Of the six most often cited issues, the Labour Party was seen as the most capable for five of them, with the National Party being just 1% more likely to be cited as the best party for solving crime problems.

Jonathan Dodd, Research Director of Ipsos New Zealand, said: “It’s understandable that the Labour Party is seen as the best party to solve five of the top six problems, given their recent election success, but it is interesting to note that around a third of people were unable to state that any party was well suited to address some of these issues. It will be interesting to observe any changes over the next few waves of this monitor.”




For the full deck of results, see: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/New%20Zealand%20Ipsos%20Issues%20Monitor%20May%202018.pdf

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