Healthcare And Unemployment Of Increasing Concern; Government’s Performance Rating Unchanged

New Zealand / Aotearoa, 9 September 2024 – The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that healthcare / hospitals has significantly increased in importance as an issue for New Zealanders, with the issue rising to its highest level since Covid landed in New Zealand.

While inflation / cost of living remains the number one issue, the proportion of New Zealanders identifying this as a key concern has dropped to the lowest level since May 2022 at 56%. Concern for crime / law & order has also decreased significantly to 28% following a spike in May 2024. Conversely, unemployment has risen significantly in prominence, with 14% of New Zealanders identifying it as a key issue – the highest level since February 2021.

Other key findings include:

• Healthcare / hospitals is the second most important issue, increasing significantly to 40% (c.f. 31% in May).
• The economy returned as the top-3 issue for the first time since February 2021, with a slight increase in concern (29% c.f. 27% in May 2024).
• Despite remaining a top-5 issue, housing / price of housing continues to decline in prominence, reaching a record low (since measurement began in February 2018) of 27%.
• Climate change increased slightly as an issue in August to 18%, ranking sixth but remains well below its peak in February 2023 (c.f. 16% in May 2024 and 27% in February 2023).
• Petrol prices/ fuel has significantly decreased in prominence as an issue to 8% (c.f. 12% in May 2024) – the lowest level since October 2021.
• Perceptions of whether some issues are important differ significantly between generations. The biggest differences are in unemployment, which is significantly more likely to be seen as an important issue by 18–34-year-olds (19%). Conversely, New Zealanders aged 50+ are significantly more likely to think of healthcare / hospitals as an important issue (49% for those aged 50-64 and 55% for those aged 65+). Those aged 35-49 are significantly more likely to see inflation / cost of living as an important issue (65%).
• New Zealanders’ overall mean rating of the new Coalition Government’s performance has declined slightly to 4.5 – on par with the Labour-led government rating in the Ipsos Issues Monitor August 2023 wave, prior to the general election in October 2023.
• When asked which political party New Zealanders believe is most capable of managing these issues, National has regained housing and education and is now the party seen most capable of managing six of the top-10 issues. Labour is now perceived to be the most capable of managing healthcare / hospitals, poverty / inequality and unemployment. The Greens remain the party seen as most capable at managing climate change.
• More Australians see cost of living as an important issue than New Zealanders in their respective countries (Australia 63% c.f. New Zealand 56%).

Carin Hercock, Managing Director, Ipsos New Zealand, said: “Despite our fieldwork coinciding with the government’s tax cuts hitting pay packets and the Reserve Bank’s reduction of the official cash rate, inflation is still a dominant issue for the majority of New Zealanders. While slowly trending down from its peak in February 23, it will take time for many New Zealanders to see the impact of reduced interest rates on mortgages and other costs. Meanwhile, healthcare has had a significant increase in importance as an issue, now at levels higher than seen when Covid first reached New Zealand in March 2020 and when community spread of Covid took hold in October 2021.”

Amanda Dudding, Research Director, Public Affairs, Ipsos New Zealand, added: “Two issues to watch are unemployment, which has significantly increased since our last wave in May, and the economy, which seems to be slowly trending up as an issue. Unemployment is significantly important for younger New Zealanders and is likely to affect future spending habits for this group.”

Note: 

In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave of the Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor, we asked 1,005 New Zealanders to select from a list of 20, the three most important issues facing the country and to rate the ability of the country’s political parties to best manage these issues.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the third largest market research company in the world, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people. Our New Zealand operations include over 30 staff with offices in Auckland and Wellington.

Our research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 business solutions are based on primary data coming from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

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