New Zealanders Cautious On Hobbit Hype

14 March 2013

New Zealanders Cautious On Hobbit Hype

• New Zealanders were fairly evenly divided on whether it was worthwhile subsidising the Hobbit. In UMR’s latest online omnibus, only a narrow plurality 42% to 38% thought we had got value for money from the subsidy.

Males, older New Zealanders and those on higher incomes were more likely to see value for money in taxpayer backing for the film.

• New Zealanders were also right behind Winston Peters call for Hollywood companies to pay the subsidy back if the films were successful. 70% were in favour of that and only 19% opposed.

Even among National voters 56% were in favour of paying it back while 30% were opposed.

A majority (55%) of those that thought New Zealand taxpayers had got value from subsidising the Hobbit were also in favour of repaying the subsidy while 37% were opposed.

• Results are from questions included in the UMR Online Omnibus Survey which was conducted 22 February to 5 March 2013. It has a nationally representative sample of 1,000 New Zealanders 18 years and over. The margin of error for a 50% figure at the ‘95% confidence level’ is +/- 3.1%.

Click here to view: The_Hobbit_Mar13.pdf

ENDS

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