A new Ipsos Issues Monitor reveals the things most on voters’ minds, and the parties they think best equipped to deal with them. 

Five months from today, advance voting begins in New Zealand for the 2026 general election. Sometimes it feels as though the campaign is already under way. 

The Ipsos Issues Monitor, which has been undertaken four times a year since 2018, offers a compelling glimpse at the subjects broiling in the front of voters’ minds – and the parties they consider best placed to tackle them. 

Here are half a dozen insights from the latest edition, published today.

Cost of living stays top of pile, but fuel worries surging

Continuing a consistent pattern across more than three years now, cost of living (including inflation) is selected by six in 10 people as one of their three major concerns.

Here’s the full top 20:

The big leap is no surprise: petrol prices and fuel. In the last survey, conducted in February, it was 9%. That’s now jumped to 26%. More of a surprise, perhaps, is that the number isn’t higher – it hasn’t quite matched the peak of 28% in May 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

How do the big issues compare with the last election cycle?

The blue bars are the results from three years ago; the orange are from the new survey. Just as concerns around crime and law and order have dropped, unemployment worries have shot up, from 5% to 19%.

Who is judged best to deal with these issues?

Labour strategists will look at the table below and feel some vindication. However, after trailing to Labour on the economy at the end of last year, National has restored its traditional lead, five points ahead of its main rival.

On fuel, Labour is judged best to manage the issue by 28%, with National 25%. The Greens come in at 8%, NZ First 6% and Act 3%. The “don’t know” and “none” answers make for a combined 28%.

Report card on the government

Ipsos asks for an assessment of government performance over the last six months. A mean average of 4.2 is nothing to shout about, but the number has at least stabilised, remaining on that figure from the last survey, having dipped to 3.9 by the end of last year. 

How is the immigration issue tracking?

Some of us have been curious to know whether a recent rise in concern about immigration would continue. In fact, in the latest Ipsos survey, the number of respondents who selected immigration as one of their three most pressing concerns fell by two percentage points. 

That’s a world away from the concern measured in the equivalent Ipsos studies from the UK and Australia.

In New Zealand, Labour is judged best to manage immigration by 27%, with National 21% and NZ First 20%. The Greens are preferred by 7% and Act 5%.

Generational differences

Healthcare continues to grow as a concern for older New Zealanders, while petrol prices looms markedly larger for under-35s than for other groups. 

Isos surveyed 1,001 New Zealanders aged 18 and older between May 15 and May 20, 2026.