Huge majority of New Zealanders (79.2%) want action on ‘Environmental problems’, majorities strongest in Labour held
seats (8 out of the top 15 electorates)
Qualitative research conducted around New Zealand over the past three years reveals that Labour-held electorates are
more likely to agree with the statement ‘If we don’t act now we’ll never control our Environmental problems’ than
National-held electorates, although there are some notable exceptions.
Analysing agreement with this question by electorate over the period since the last New Zealand election (since December
2011) shows eight out of the fifteen electorates that agree most strongly with the statement “If we don’t act now we’ll
never control our Environmental problems” are Labour electorates compared to only five National electorates.
However, leading the way in agreement with the statement are the National electorates of Rotorua (86.5% agreement) and
Auckland Central (85.2%). Just behind are the Labour electorates of Mangere (84.6%) and Hutt South (83.9%) and the sole
Act NZ electorate of Epsom (84.2%).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the electorates with the lowest agreement with the statement are predominantly National
electorates including 14 out of the 16 electorates that have the lowest agreement with the statement. The five lowest
electorates agreeing with this statement are the National electorates Whangarei (72.7%), New Plymouth (73.2%), Botany
(73.4%) and Clutha-Southland (74.0%) and the sole rural Labour held electorate of West Coast-Tasman (74.9%).
Interestingly, there is little difference between the electorates of the two main party leaders – only slightly more
electors in Labour Leader David Cunliffe’s electorate of New Lynn (76.6%) agree with the statement than those in Prime
Minister John Key’s electorate of Helensville (75.7%).
These figures are based on interviews with 72,817 New Zealanders aged 14+ between July 2011 and April 2014.
For full results and poll data: click here