Health surges in rankings of New Zealanders' concerns - Ipsos survey

With emergency departments under pressure and in some cases temporarily closed, health is increasingly front of mind for New Zealanders, a new poll suggests.

The issue has climbed to number two in New Zealand - heights not seen since the Covid lockdowns - with inflation continuing to hold the top spot despite a slow decline.

The Ipsos New Zealand survey released to RNZ was carried out between 16 and 23 August, and asked New Zealanders what they thought were the top three most important issues facing the country today.

The economy is climbing the rankings, rising to third, while crime/law and order has dropped to similar levels seen in February. Housing/price of housing as an issue has dropped to fifth place, hitting a record low for the survey of 27 percent.

Health

The issue of healthcare/hospitals increased to 40 percent in August, up significantly from the May survey's 31 percent.

In the six surveys prior, dating back to September 2022, health has ranged between 27 percent and 33 percent. The last time it was the number two issue was in October 2021 when Covid was rife in the community.

Ipsos New Zealand managing director, Carin Hercock, told RNZ 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".

It was the top concern among the 65+ age group (55%), with crime/law and order coming in second (40%).

It was also the second-highest concern for the 50-64 age group (49%, with inflation at 53%) and the 35-49 age group (35%, inflation at 65%).

However, Younger New Zealanders - ages 18-34 - were more concerned about inflation (61%) housing (33%) and the economy (27%) than health (25%).

Health was also ranked higher at 46 percent among right-leaning voters, than for left-leaning voters (38%).

Inflation, unemployment, the economy

Despite the polling period coinciding with the coalition's long-promised tax cuts arriving in people's pay packets and the Reserve Bank reducing the official cash rate, inflation was still the burning issue.

However, it dropped to 56 percent, its lowest level since May 2022 and down from the 65 percent peak of May last year.

"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," Hercock said.

However, Ipsos Research Director Amanda Dudding told RNZ related issues like unemployment and the economy were on the rise as issues to watch.

"Unemployment is significantly important for younger New Zealanders and is likely to affect future spending habits for this group," she said.

Unemployment has been steadily increasing as an issue - up 13 percent since May.

The economy has been slowly trending up from 22 percent February last year to 29 percent in this survey, rising from fifth place last September to third in this survey.

When asked about the longer term, respondents tended to rank inflation lower - with 45 percent saying it would still be a concern in five years time.

Most other top-10 issues were within the margin of error compared to the short term with the exception of climate change, which was five percentage points higher at 23 percent.

Politics

The Ipsos survey also asked which political party is considered most capable at managing the big issues.

The National Party was considered best on six of the top 10 issues, with education and house prices switching from Labour in this survey. Inflation, the economy, law and order and household debt all went to National.

However, Labour outranked the others on healthcare/hospitals - having overtaken National on the issue in the May survey, it extended the lead to 33 percent compared to National's 28 percent. Labour was also ranked above National on managing poverty/inequality and unemployment.

The Greens were seen as most capable of tackling climate change, which rounds out the top 10 issues at number six.

When broadened out to the top-20 issues, National was seen as most capable to manage 13, Labour just four, the Greens two, and Te Pāti Māori was considered best on issues facing Māori.

The coalition government was ranked at 4.5 out of 10, matching the low hit by the previous Labour government a year ago, but only a slight difference compared to the coalition's 4.6 results in February and May.

In Australia, cost of living/inflation was also the top concern (63%), with housing in second, followed by healthcare, the economy, and crime.

The Ipsos online poll has a sample size of 1005 people and a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.

During the survey period news headlines centred around mill closures in the wake of the ongoing energy crisis, skyrocketing prices at supermarkets, the cut to the official cash rate, and hospitals unable to take new admissions or temporarily closing.

Results were weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the wider New Zealand population. Some results may sum to 100 percent and others may show a difference higher or lower than the actual due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of "don't know" or "not stated" responses.