Methodology

1. Issues research
2. Issues ranking
3. KPIs

1. Issues research

Polling companies

There are 2 research companies that consistently poll and publicly publish the issues that matter most to Kiwi voters:

• Curia = Monthly polling sponsored by the Taxpayers’ Union
• Ipsos = Tri-annual NZ Issues Monitor

Essential, www.essentialreport.co.nz, supported by The Guardian also did excellent monthly polling for the 2023 election which we used, but its last issues polling was November 2023, and the website has since been taken down.

Other pollsters, like Roy Morgan, Talbot Mills, Reid, Kantar, and Freshwater Strategy, either don't consistently measure voter issues, don't make their results publicly available, or are too infrequent or unpredictable to be of practical use. We don't use one-off "leaked" polling results, as they can be leaked for political reasons, and we need to sight the official research report to validate the quality of the data.

Methodology
Curia and Ipsos are both well respected and widely published research companies. They use different methodologies (see Curia, Ipsos), but their issues rankings are almost always very closely aligned, giving us great confidence we have accurately captured the top 10 voter issues for Kiwis.

Sampling

Both Curia and Ipsos:

• Include Kiwis 18+ since that is the voting age. Curia excludes those who are "unlikely or very unlikely to vote". Ipsos appears to include all respondents regardless of voting intention. One could argue that, as a result, Curia's results are more reflect of Kiwi voters, while Ipsos results are more reflective of all Kiwis 18+.
• Poll 1,000+ Kiwis, but in slightly different ways:
  • Curia = "700 by phone and 300 by online panel.", "A random selection of 7,000 NZ phone numbers..."
  • Ipsos = "1,003 respondents were interviewed online in September via online panels"
  • Online panels are a common, more affordable, and accepted research method, but do carry greater risk of bias than random phone line calling.

Question design

• Curia asks respondents "If another general election were held today, what is the most important issue to you that would influence how you would vote? That issue could be about the parties, the leaders, local candidates, or international, national, or local issues? What is the second and third most important issues?"
• Ipsos asks "What would you say are the three most important issues facing New Zealand today?"
• The important distinction here is that Curia asks for a top 1 issue while Ipsos asks for a top 3. Again, neither approach is right or wrong, but can produce slightly different results.
• We would prefer for a polling company to ask voters BOTH a) issue importance and b) issue priority. For example, education and crime are both low in the ranking list, but they may be because of recent improvements, not because they are not important and top-of-mind like other issues which aren't going as well.

Publication

• Ipsos' results are public
• Curia's full polling reports which include their top 10 issue rankings are only visible to Taxpayer Caucus supporters, but they kindly share the issues rankings with us. They do publish the party polling results here.
• NOTE: Crime and Education didn't make Curia's top 10 list so we don't have October scores for those issues, yet. We have asked. In the meantime, we have used the September %s for those issues. The %s for these issues typically don't change much from month to month.

Timing

• Curia polls and publishes in the first few days of each month, e.g. polling 1-3 Oct, released 8 Oct 2026. Consistent monthly polling keeps their results very current.
• Ipsos polls and publishes 3 times per year and it takes a couple of weeks for the results to be released, e.g. polling 3-11 September, released 24 September 2026. As a result, their polling results date faster than Curia's.

2. Issues ranking

Weighting

Given the different release dates, and how voter issues can shift quickly, we need to apply a weighting adjustment to give greater weight to the more recent results, usually Curia's. To achieve this:

• The first step is to turn the % scores for each issue for each researcher into a total out of 100% so that they are comparable across all researchers.
• Next, we discount each data set by 20% for every additional month old that the dataset is. This 20% figure is based on Ipsos' September report also remaining their current one for Oct, Nov, Dec, and Jan = 5 months lifespan in total. 100% / 5 months = 20%. As such, we apply 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20% weightings in those successive months until more current Ipsos data is released again.
• For half months, 10% is used.

If you believe there is a superior way to apply weightings, would like a custom algorithm output, or believe there are results from other research companies that we should add to our methodology, please let us know.

Aggregation

Each researcher uses slightly different terminology, so we need to combine the results. It is important to recognise that the choice of words, and order, does have an impact in any research, e.g. "crime" vs "law and order" can trigger very different emotions, as can "employment" vs "unemployment".

As of October 8 2026, (after Curia and Ipsos' latest releases) the top 10 issues in New Zealand, as ranked by New Zealanders are:

1. Cost of Living/inflation
   Curia: "Cost of living", Ipsos: "Inflation / cost of living".
   27.8% weighted score (33.2% Curia, 21.0% Ipsos) *Remember that this Ipsos score is weighted at 80% so the formula is (33.2% + (21% x 80%) / 180%.
   #1 Curia, #1 Ipsos
   Easily the #1 issue for Kiwi voters. Has been the #1 Ipsos issue for 4.5 years dating back to February 2022 (page 7)
   
   
2. Health/healthcare/hospitals
   Curia: "Health", Ipsos: "Healthcare / hospitals"
   14.4% weighted score (14.2% Curia, 14.7% Ipsos)
   #2 Curia, #2 Ipsos
   Almost always a top 3 issue for Kiwi voters.
   
   
3. Economy
   Curia: "Economy", Ipsos: "The economy"
   10.2% weighted score (9.3% Curia, 11.3% Ipsos)
   #3 Curia, #3 Ipsos
   Has also been a consistent top 3 issue for Kiwi voters for many years
   
   The top 3 issues have been very consistent, as you can see, and a long way ahead of the rest. The next block of issues does move around a bit more month to month.
   
   
4. Unemployment/employment
   Curia: "Employment", Ipsos: "Unemployment".
   5.4% weighted score (4.2% Curia, 7.0% Ipsos)
   #5 Curia, #4 Ipsos
   
   
5. Housing/price of housing
   Curia: "Housing", Ipsos: "Housing / price of housing"
   4.5% weighted score (3.1% Curia, 6.3% Ipsos)
   #9 Curia, #5 Ipsos (the first significant difference in ranking order, but the differences in the weighted %s are small for issues 4-12)
   
   
6. Environment/climate change
   Curia: "Environment", Ipsos: "Climate change"
   4.0% weighted score (3.8% Curia, 4.3% Ipsos)
   #6 Curia, #8 Ipsos
   
   
7. Poverty/inequality
   Curia: "Poverty", Ipsos: "Poverty / inequality"
   3.9% weighted score (2.4% Curia, 5.7% Ipsos)
   #10 Curia, #6 Ipsos
   
   
8. Crime/law & order
   Curia: "Law & Order", Ipsos: "Crime / law and order / violence / anti-social behaviour"
   3.4% weighted score (2.1% Curia, 5.0% Ipsos)
   #11 Curia, #7 Ipsos (this is the first issue where one of the polling companies has it outside the top 10, but the Ipsos score pulls it back up overall. Again, the % differences are very small at this end of the ranking list.)
   
   
9. Taxes/taxation
   Curia: "Taxes", Ipsos: "Taxation"
   3.2% weighted score (3.7% Curia, 2.7% Ipsos)
   #7 Curia, #9= Ipsos
   
   
10. Immigration
    Curia: "Immigration", Ipsos: "Immigration"
    3.1% weighted score (3.2% Curia, 3.0% Ipsos)
    #8 Curia, #9= Ipsos
    NOTE: This is a preliminary ranking until we have the October education score from Curia. Immigration has not been a top 10 issue since we begun in 2023, so we will need time to pull this statistic and presentation together. Not easy as a citizen powered initiative. Thank you for your understanding.
    
11. Treaty/race relations
    Curia: "Maori/Treaty", Ipsos: "Race relations / racism"
    3.0% weighted score (4.3% Curia, 1.3% Ipsos)
    #4 Curia (much higher), #12 Ipsos (much lower)
    
    
12. Education
    Curia: "Education", Ipsos: "Education"
    2.4% weighted score (1.9% Curia, 3.0% Ipsos)
    #12 Curia, #8 Ipsos
    NOTE: Education has been in the top 10 often, and many voters will expect it to be, which is why we've left it displayed, but without a ranking number on the top 10 home page.
    
    
13. Social Unity/division
    This is not measured by Ipsos, which makes it hard to work out a total score. However, in the September Curia polling full results, it was 1.8%, just behind Law and Order (2.1%) and Education (1.9%), level with Housing (1.8%), and ahead of Immigration (1.7%). Anecdotal evidence suggests social unity/division/cohesion is a significant issue at the moment.
    
    In general, social cohesion is measured very poorly and infrequently in New Zealand. Back in 2023, 3 different questions from 3 different pollsters (Essential, 1News Verian, and NZ Herald Dynata) all showed that ⅔ to ¾ of New Zealanders felt we’d become more divided, and ~½ believe race relations were getting worse too, versus just 14% who believed race relations were getting better.
    
    For these reasons, we have included it in homepage list, but outside the top 10. We have encouraged all research companies to include this question in their future issues lists so that we can get a more accurate read on how it sits against other issues.
    
    
14. OVERALL Country Direction/Government confidence
    This a generic and final catch-all measure of how the country feels across all areas of life and society. 2 research companies poll and publish this data each month (Curia and Roy Morgan), and both are very closely aligned in their scores, which gives us confidence in the confidence score.
    

The total for the top 10 issues above is 80%, and 86% for the top 13, meaning ~14% of the weighting belongs to other issues not shown, e.g. transport, infrastructure, population, defence/foreign affairs.

Some people also answer "unsure".

Curia polling also captures some generic concerns which score lowly outside their top 10 and are attributable to multiple issues, e.g. "Leaders" (1.9% in September), "Policies" (1.8%), "Help families" (1.6%).

Ipsos' polling splits out "Petrol prices / fuel" (5.7%), but that is a subset of inflation/cost of living which is the #1 issue.

3. KPIs (Key/Kiwi Performance Indicators)

Following the issue ranking, we then need to agree on the best KPI(s) to measure each one. For the launch version of this website, we have focused on the top KPI available for each issue, but as we get more support, and as government organisations publish new data sets, we aim to add multiple KPIs for each area.

Please see each issue detail page to learn more about why that KPI was chosen over other options at this point in time. If you believe there is a superior KPI available, please let us know.

Once the KPIs are decided, we have found the data via:

• Desktop research
• Asking thought leaders for help
• Asking government organisations for help
• Submitting OIA requests if the data is not publicly available

Why 10 issues/KPIs?

• There has traditionally been a distinct top 10 issues before a drop-off the more minor issues. Currently, there is a top 13, which is why we've shown a few additional issues outside of the top 10, but without ranking numbers.
• Top 10 lists are very common and help to create awareness and engagement with data.
• 10 + 3 additional issues + an overall metric + an email sign-up form also just so happened to fit well into our 3-column layout.

Other issues/KPIs considered

• Issue rankings over time
  As mentioned earlier, no one seems to have measured issue importance over time, only issue rankings over time. By asking only for a ranking, Curia and Ipsos can’t measure if that issue is becoming more or less important overall, only that it is becoming more or less important relative to other issues. In other words, many or all issues might be getting more or less concerning for citizens, but ranked lists can't show this insight. Essential did measure an importance score, which it then uses to also determine a ranking, but only did this polling in late 2023.
  
  
• Government spending
  This is a generic issue across all others, so is not tested or listed as a top 9 issue. Perhaps it should be, though, and we have asked the research companies if they will include this in the future. In our wishlist, we plan to add Government spending as either an overlay on all graphs, or we’ll list this as its own KPI within Economy, or both. You can see Core Crown Expenses by Class 1972-2022 on theFacts. In time and with support, we will update this work.
  
  
• Population
  Population growth places pressure on many infrastructure areas, e.g. schooling, hospitals, houses, and environmental damage, but is not listed as a top 10 issue at the moment. Curia doesn't poll it. Ipsos does have it as an option, but it's way down in 19th spot. As part of our wishlist, we will add this somewhere appropriate at a future date. You can see Population Growth 1952-2021 (split by net migration and net births) on theFacts. In time and with support, we will update this work.
  
  
• Happiness
  This is a general measure, not an issue area as such, not currently tested in the issues research, and difficult to find robust data for. However, country direction and social unity/division both reflect the mood of the nation.

theFacts.nz has covered over 100 metrics over recent years, so they are better suited for displaying many of these other measures of interest to society. KPI.nz is focused on the top issues and KPIs only.

Red vs Blue lines

• The governance of New Zealand is led by the government of New Zealand at the time, hence the similarity in the terms.
  • Oxford definition: government - the group of people who are responsible for controlling a country or a state.
• The responsibility for the performance of our country ultimately lies at the top with the Prime Minister and then the ministers of key portfolios:
  • In some areas, the government is solely responsible, e.g. tax rates and policing.
  • In areas of society that are mostly state-funded, they are primarily responsible and also set the rules for private providers, e.g. health and education.
  • Economic aspects are trickier to control with foreign influences and fewer levers to pull, but the governments of the day still carry significant influence, therefore, responsibility, e.g. inflation and GDP per capita.
  • Some areas are led primarily by the private sector but with the rules set by the government and the economic conditions influenced by them as well, e.g. housing.
  • In nature, the government sets the rules for environmental management, but can't be a constant watchdog, so it's also up to individuals to conduct ethical practices.
  • The way the government leads its people largely influences our social cohesion or division.
  • And then there are some key performance indicators that are the outputs of many of the other metrics above. Poverty is influenced heavily by inflation, health, economy, unemployment/benefits, housing, taxes, crime, and education. The overall country direction scores are influenced by all issues and performance - perceived or actual - so are roughly aligned to the %s shown above, but not always.
• There are external events that can have an impact for a period of time on a key issue area and the corresponding key performance indicators, e.g. the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), earthquakes, floods, Covid, and other context is important to consider, but that does not absolve any government of responsibility for those areas over each parliamentary term.
• Given this great governance responsibility, we have used colours to represent the lead/largest party in each 3-term government. There have only been 2 lead parties in the last 90 years:
  • Labour-led, which we’ve shown in their red party colour.
  • National-led, which we’ve shown in their blue party colour.
• There were no coalition governments between 1936 and 1994. Only Labour or National under our old FPP (First Past the Post) electoral system.
• In the last 3 decades, however, especially since the arrival of the MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) system in 1996, there have mostly been coalition governments in some format. Even our first majority government under MMP, the 2020-2023 Labour-led Government, still had a cooperation agreement with the Green Party and the Greens have ministers outside of cabinet.
• For KPI.nz, we’ve decided to launch with red and blue lines only, but have explained the support parties in the text you see below and also on each of the issue/KPI detail pages.
• In the future, we’ll look at other creative ways to visually represent the coalitions on the graphs, and their various party colours, so that each governing party more fairly shares in the success and failure of their performance metrics.
• For election dates, see https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/historical-events/1853-2017-general-elections/?ref=btn
• For all governments, see https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/mps-and-parliaments-1854-onwards/governments-in-new-zealand-since-1856/
• For a more detailed breakdown of the structure of MMP governments, see Table 5 on https://www.parliament.nz/media/9963/rp2021-04-2020-general-election-and-referendums.pdf.
• If a data point falls between an election date and the date the new government is formed, we have shared that result between both Labour and National-led governments. We considered showing a purple transition period for these data points, but many voters want to see an incoming government take ownership as soon as it gets the keys. (Most) citizens also give new governments a fair grace period to start to turn underperforming metrics around.

1984 = Labour
1987 = Labour

1990 = National
1993 = National*
1996 = National/NZ First*

1999 = Labour/Alliance + Green
2002 = Labour/Progressive + United
2005 = Labour/Progressive + United, NZ First

2008 = National + ACT, United, Māori
2011 = National + ACT, United, Māori
2014 = National + ACT, United, Māori

2017 = Labour/NZ First + Green
2020 = Labour + Green

2023 = National/ACT/NZ First
2026 = TBD

* National remained in government from 1993–1999 despite MP defections and changing governing arrangements. Its coalition with NZ First, formed after the first MMP election in 1996, collapsed in August 1998.
/ = Coalition partners
+ = Other formal governing agreements, including confidence and supply, support and cooperation.

Sources:1,2 (table 5).

Supporting content

For transparency, every KPI detail page lists:

• What this graph shows
• Key notes
• Why this KPI?
• Data source(s)
• Data timing
• Related facts
• Wishlist
• Governments over the timeframe shown
• Copyright credits to the organisations that supplied the data (and encouragement to share widely)
• Corrections & suggestions contact

As resource and support allows, we will add more KPIs.

Timeliness

All issues and KPIs are currently up to date (except for waiting for the final Crime and Education %s from Curia). We aim to update the issues rankings as new information becomes available, which is not always so easy as a volunteered venture. Hopefully, we can secure funding to continue our work.

Peer review

• We are very aware that we are sometimes dealing with complex and dynamic data, are making some important decisions about what we show and what we don’t. We also know that humans make mistakes, so we are always open to constructive criticism on how to make KPI.nz better for our country.
• If you can help review and improve our work, we’d love to hear from you.
• If you spot a typo, mistake, or improvement opportunity for this page, please let us know via the comments below or contact us!