What women care about in election year – and five other insights from a major new poll

The Ipsos Issues Monitor reveals New Zealanders’ biggest concerns as the election draws closer.

With 99 days to go to an election that polls put on a knife edge, a new survey reveals the issues uppermost in New Zealanders’ minds. At the heart of the Ipsos Issues Monitor – published four times a year since 2018 – are the paramount concerns and the parties considered most capable of tackling them.

The cost-of-living reign continues

As has been clear now for some time, this will be the second consecutive election in which cost of living towers above other issues.

It shot up in 2022, and has stayed north of 50% since. In this survey, close to two of every three people point to cost of living and inflation as one of their big three worries.  

As to which outfit is considered better placed to respond to that challenge, the two largest parties have swapped places across the last two years.

Fuel worries down, unemployment up

The biggest shift since the last survey is on petrol prices and fuel, where there is a drop in 10 percentage points to 16%, down from fourth to seventh on the list. Fuel prices may not have fallen to the level before the first strikes on Iran, but they have stabilised, and there is no longer talk of running out of the stuff.

Unemployment, up to fifth, is emerging as a major election issue, mirroring high levels of joblessness. At 20%, the issue has risen just the one point since the last survey, but when the government came to power it was just 4%. Among those aged 18-34, it’s a major issue for 31%.

Labour leads across the big issues

The Ipsos report includes a harsh but illustrative graphic expression …

Scan down the board through the top 20 and it doesn’t get much better.  

It wasn’t pretty for National in the last survey and it’s just got worse.

Some of the margins are slender, it’s worth noting, and this measures parties, rather than putative blocs. But National has work to do.

On unemployment, for example, 41% think Labour is best placed to tackle the issue, well ahead of National on 18%. Greens are picked by 10% and NZ First 7%.

Priorities for women and men, young and old

National MPs’ incandescence in the face of boorishness from Stuart Nash and the fresh enthusiasm for extended parental leave have underscored how pivotal the contest for women’s votes could prove.

This latest Monitor comes with a breakdown of how men and women prioritise different issues. Here, healthcare – the second most prioritised issue across the board – is “significantly more important for women, so will be a key issue to address for political parties seeking to secure the votes of women this election”, noted Carin Hercock of Ipsos.

Here are the top issues for various groups:

Some other morsels of interest, when you apply a gender and age filter:

Among those aged 18 to 34, male respondents (13%) show considerably greater concern about immigration than their female counterparts (4%)

On healthcare in that bracket, it is the other way around: 30% to 18%

11% of men 35-49 point to taxation as a major concern; for women that age, it’s 2%

Healthcare and poverty/inequality rate higher for women 35-49, at 39% and 23%. The corresponding numbers for men are 25% and 13%.

Immigration as an issue

As inflammatory remarks by Winston Peters test the thermostat in election year, just how exercised are people by immigration?

The proportion of respondents who see it as a major concern has risen from 6% to 8% in this survey, back to the mark measured in February. To put that in a wider context, the same Ipsos survey in Australia has immigration at 24% – it’s higher still in the UK.

How’s the government doing overall?

The assessment of government performance now looks locked in – it has been fairly steady in this rating out of 10 across 18 months.

Ipsos surveyed 1,002 New Zealanders aged 18 and older, July 8-14, 2026.

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