{"id":308385,"date":"2026-03-01T20:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308385\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T20:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:02:09","slug":"election-2026-national-trails-labour-on-key-cost-of-living-issue-but-gaining-ground-as-government-sees-rating-rebound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308385\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: National trails Labour on key cost-of-living issue, but gaining ground as Government sees rating rebound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inflation\/the cost of living continues to be the top issue<\/a> for New Zealanders, as it has been for four years now, with 59% of participants identifying it. <\/p>\n

But Ipsos said concern over the cost of living appears to be stabilising, after an upward trend throughout 2025. It\u2019s down on a peak of 65% in February 2023.<\/p>\n

While consumer price index data released in January showed inflation at 3.1% <\/a>\u2013 outside of the target 1% to 3% band \u2013 the Reserve Bank moderated concerns in February <\/a>when it said it was confident it would fall.<\/p>\n

According to the Ipsos results, Labour is viewed as the party most capable of managing the cost of living by 35% of participants, down from 36% in the survey conducted last October. <\/p>\n

National is making some headway, however, with 28% backing the centre-right party. That\u2019s up from 24% late last year, closing the gap with Labour from 12 points to seven. <\/p>\n

On this issue, the Greens were chosen by 6% of people, NZ First by 5%, Act by 4%, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori by 1%, and another party by 1%. The rest didn\u2019t know or said none. <\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealanders’ pick for what party is the most capable for dealing with inflation. Image \/ Ipsos<\/p>\n

Healthcare\/hospitals is the second most important issue for New Zealanders<\/a>, mentioned by 38% of people. It remains the most important issue for New Zealanders aged over 65.<\/p>\n

Labour continues to be dominant in the health space, selected by 37% of people, which is down from 40% in October. National has narrowed the divide here as well, increasing its support from 21% to 25%. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the Greens were named by 6%, NZ First by 5%, Act by 4%, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori by 1%, and another party by 1%. The rest didn\u2019t know or said none. <\/p>\n

\"FinanceFinance Minister Nicola Willis has described inflation out of the band as a “blip”. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

The economy, an issue for 33% of people, is the closest race among the top five and an issue which is on the rise.<\/p>\n

National and Labour are tied here on 32%, with National having jumped from 29% in October\u2019s survey while Labour fell from 33%. <\/p>\n

They are followed by NZ First on 5%, the Greens and Act each on 4%, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori on 1%, and another party on 1%. The rest didn\u2019t know or said none. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Reserve Bank holds powerful levers that affect the economy. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

The fourth issue was housing\/price of housing, which Ipsos noted appeared to be rebounding slightly as a concern after a big drop in October. <\/p>\n

The housing market has been in the doldrums <\/a>for the past few years as high interest rates put people off wanting to invest. While cuts to the Official Cash Rate (OCR) were expected to support a recovery, recent data shows the market is still yet to pick up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To manage housing, Labour was chosen by 34% of participants (up from 32%), and National by 24% (up from 21%). <\/p>\n

Rounding out the top five is crime\/law and order. This was mentioned as an issue by 20% of participants, well down from its peak of 40% in May 2023. <\/p>\n

The Government \u2013 as recently as last week<\/a> \u2013 has highlighted a reduction in victims of violent crime since it took office. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s boasted that positive results are partly down to the likes of its gang laws and rolling out beat officers in major centres. As the Herald has reported, crime data can be cherry-picked to fit certain narratives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is one of the few issues National is viewed as the most capable to handle. It fielded the support of 34% of people (up from 30%), compared to Labour\u2019s 27% (up from 25%). <\/p>\n

Carin Hercock, Ipsos New Zealand\u2019s country manager, said it was clear inflation, healthcare and the economy were the issues New Zealanders would be assessing political parties against this election year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe battleground is firmly set, with a neck-and-neck race on capability of managing the economy,\u201d said Hercock.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Government has boasted about efforts it has taken to address violent crime. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

Other noteworthy issues highlighted by Ipsos included education, which it said had \u201cdropped significantly\u201d as an issue (from 11% in October to 8% now). It\u2019s no longer within the top 10 issues.<\/p>\n

The Government has placed emphasis on the \u201cbasics\u201d in education, prioritising core reading, writing and math skills<\/a>. It\u2019s faced some pushback from schools and unions for the scale of its change programme, which includes the dumping of the NCEA qualification<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top 10 now includes petrol prices\/fuel on 9%, up from 7%.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent weather events and talk from politicians about improving resilience<\/a>, climate change has remained steady as an issue. It\u2019s mentioned by 15% of people, the eighth highest issue. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Government’s rating, according to the Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor. Image \/ Ipsos<\/p>\n

Immigration has also gained some prominence in the Ipsos survey, up from 5% to 8%, moving up four spots.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an issue in the headlines recently, including due to NZ First\u2019s concerns the proposed India Free Trade Agreement could lead to \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of people<\/a> coming here.<\/p>\n

In a Herald interview last year<\/a>, NZ First\u2019s Winston Peters raised concern with the number of migrants entering New Zealand and believed the issue was troubling Kiwis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some surprises in the issues rated as less important by New Zealanders,\u201d said Ipsos New Zealand executive director public affairs Amanda Dudding.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration is an issue to watch, jumping four places up the ranking to just sit outside the top 10, and no change for climate change as an issue given the devastating impacts of severe weather events this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Issues and the parties most capable of managing them <\/p>\n

1 \u2013 Inflation\/cost of living \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

2 \u2013 Healthcare\/hospitals \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

3 – The economy \u2013 Labour\/National <\/p>\n

4 – Housing\/price of housing \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

5- Crime\/law and order \u2013 National <\/p>\n

6 – Unemployment \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

7 – Poverty\/inequality \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

8 – Climate change \u2013 Greens <\/p>\n

9= Drug\/alcohol abuse – Labour<\/p>\n

9= Petrol prices\/fuel \u2013 Labour <\/p>\n

11 = Education – Labour<\/p>\n

11 = Immigration – Labour <\/p>\n

13 = Environmental pollution\/water concerns \u2013 Greens<\/p>\n

13 = Household debt\/personal debt \u2013 Labour<\/p>\n

15 = Race relations\/racism \u2013 Labour<\/p>\n

15 = Transport\/public transport\/infrastructure \u2013 Labour<\/p>\n

17 = Taxation \u2013 Labour<\/p>\n

17 = Issues facing M\u0101ori \u2013 Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori<\/p>\n

19 = Population\/overpopulation \u2013 Labour<\/p>\n

19 = Defence\/foreign affairs\/terrorism \u2013 National <\/p>\n

The study was conducted using online research panels between February 11 and 18, with 1000 New Zealanders aged 18 and older representing the adult New Zealand population. Quotas were set to ensure representativeness.<\/p>\n

The precision of Ipsos online surveys is calculated using a credibility interval. Here, the total New Zealand results have a credibility interval of +\/-3.5 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald\u2019s Chief Political Reporter, based in the Press Gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inflation\/the cost of living continues to be the top issue for New Zealanders, as it has been for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2246,806,5837,168303,3013,3276,6789,10709,55996,24747,3468,5903,1668,129,266,109,42,13480,76,1452,302,4277,6721,14575,3935,3556,43,90,32361,4762,68689,8602,10715,29647,40,38,41,39,55404,24687,102,24750],"class_list":{"0":"post-308385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-2246","9":"tag-as","10":"tag-battle","11":"tag-bestplaced","12":"tag-but","13":"tag-chris","14":"tag-closing","15":"tag-concerns","16":"tag-convince","17":"tag-costofliving","18":"tag-deal","19":"tag-election","20":"tag-front","21":"tag-gaining","22":"tag-government","23":"tag-ground","24":"tag-headlines","25":"tag-hipkins","26":"tag-issue","27":"tag-issues","28":"tag-its","29":"tag-key","30":"tag-labour","31":"tag-majority","32":"tag-managing","33":"tag-national","34":"tag-news","35":"tag-on","36":"tag-opposition","37":"tag-party","38":"tag-rating","39":"tag-rebound","40":"tag-remains","41":"tag-sees","42":"tag-top-news","43":"tag-top-stories","44":"tag-topnews","45":"tag-topstories","46":"tag-trails","47":"tag-voters","48":"tag-with","49":"tag-zealanders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}