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NZ Vote: Potential National/Act NZ (47.5%) coalition retains a clear lead over Labour/Greens (44%) in April

Source: Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source. January 2020 – April 2022.
Base: New Zealand electors aged 18+. Average interviews per month = 933.
Today’s Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll shows support for a potential National/Act NZ coalition increasing by 0.5% points to 47.5% in April, clearly ahead of Labour/Greens on 44%, up 1.5% points. This continues to be the equal highest level of support for National since January 2020.

Support for National was down 0.5% points at 37.5% in April but fellow right-leaning party Act NZ increased support by 1% point to 10%. Support for the Maori Party was down 0.5% points to 1.5%.

Support for New Zealand’s Labour/Greens ‘coalition’ government increased by 1.5% points to 44% in April – the first increase in support for the Government for seven months since September 2021. Support for Labour increased 1.5% points to 33.5% while support for the Greens was unchanged at 10.5%.

A minority of 7% of electors (down 1.5% points) support other minor parties outside Parliament with support for New Zealand First down 1.5% points to 2.5%, The Opportunities Party up 0.5% points to 2% and support for the New Conservative Party unchanged at 0.5% in April.

This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile – with a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 918 electors during April. Electors were asked: “If a New Zealand Election were held today which party would receive your party vote?” Of all electors surveyed 4.5%, down 2% points, did not name a party.

New Zealand Government Confidence Rating up 6pts to 93.5 in April

The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating increased by 6pts in April 93.5. Despite the increase, the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is down 42.5pts from a year ago in April 2021 and down 31.5pts since September 2021.

In April, 43% (up 4% points) of electors said New Zealand was ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 49.5% (down 2% points) who said New Zealand was ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Rating for New Zealand increased 6.5pts to 84.4 and is still below the latest Consumer Confidence figure in Australia of 90.7 on April 25 - May 1, 2022.

Women continue to favour Labour/Greens while men firmly support National and Act NZ

Support for the Labour/ Greens coalition remains strong amongst women. Support for the Labour/ Greens coalition is at 54.5% for women aged 18-49 compared to only 38.5% support for National/ Act NZ. For women aged 50+ support is at 49.5% for the Labour/ Greens coalition compared to 43.5% for National/ Act NZ.

The smallest Parliamentary Opposition, the Maori Party, attracts the support of 2% of women including 3% of women aged 18-49 and 1.5% of women aged 50+.

There is a stark difference for men with 54% supporting National or Act NZ. In March 49% of men aged 18-49 supported National/ Act NZ compared to 40% that supported Labour/ Greens. For men aged 50+ there were 61.5% supporting National/ Act NZ compared to 30% supporting Labour/ Greens.

The Maori Party attracts only 0.5% support from men including 0.5% support of men aged 50+ but no support from men aged 18-49.

Support for the Greens is far higher amongst both younger women and younger men than their older counterparts. One-in-five women aged 18-49 (20%) and one-in-eight men aged 18-49 (12.5%) support the Greens compared to only 5% of women aged 50+ and just 4% of men aged 50+.

Party vote analysis by Gender & Age

Total

Women

Men

All

18-49

50+

All

18-49

50+

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Labour

33.5

39.5

34.5

44.5

26.5

27.5

26

Greens

10.5

12.5

20

5

8.5

12.5

4

Labour/ Greens

44

52

54.5

49.5

35

40

30

National

37.5

34.5

30

39

41

37

46.5

Act NZ

10

6.5

8.5

4.5

13.5

12

15

Maori Party

1.5

2

3

1.5

0.5

-

0.5

National/ Act NZ/ Maori Party

49

43

41.5

45

55

49

62

Others

7

5

4

5.5

10

11

8

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating

Right Direction

43

46.5

46.5

46.5

38.5

43

33.5

Wrong Direction

49.5

46

48.5

43.5

53

49.5

57

Government Confidence Rating

93.5

100.5

98

103

85.5

93.5

76.5

Can’t say

7.5

7.5

5

10

8.5

7.5

9.5

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

*The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is 100 plus the difference between the percentage of Kiwis who say the country is “heading in the right direction” and the percentage who say the country is “seriously heading in the wrong direction”.

Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating improved in April – up 6pts to 93.5

The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating increased for both genders in April and is now back above the neutral level of 100 for women at 100.5, up 6.5pts on a week ago. There was a similar improvement among men, although the Rating remains significantly lower, up 5.5pts to 85.5.

Amongst women there are now 46.5% who say New Zealand is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 46% that say New Zealand is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

Now nearly two-fifths of men, 38.5%, say New Zealand is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to a clear majority of 53% that say New Zealand is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is highest for women aged 50+ at 103 while for women aged 18-49 it is slightly lower at 98. There is a larger difference for men with those aged 18-49 having a Government Confidence Rating of 93.5 and only 76.5 for men aged 50+.

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the potential National/Act NZ coalition (47.5%) government has largely held its lead over the governing Labour/Greens government (44%) in April as the country begins to open up to the world following the pandemic:

“Today’s Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll has little movement for the major parties with New Zealand beginning the process of re-opening its borders to international travellers during April with Australian travellers allowed into the country for the last three weeks.

“The international border has now re-opened to residents of visa-waiver countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea as the country slowly moves past the pandemic restrictions that kept the country one of the safest in the world over the last two years.

“Support for National was down 0.5% points at 37.5% in April and fellow right-leaning party Act NZ increased its support 1% point to 10% - its first increase in support so far this year. As a potential governing coalition National/Act NZ now have 47.5% of the vote.

“In comparison, support for the Labour/ Greens coalition was up 1.5% points to 44%. The increase in support was for Labour, which increased 1.5% points to 33.5% - their first increase in support for over six months since September 2021 while Greens support was unchanged at 10.5%.

“There was positive news for the Labour-Greens government with two key indicators moving in the right direction in April, although both remain in negative territory below the neutral level of 100. The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating increased 6pts to 93.5 while the ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Rating was up 6.5pts to 84.4. This is the first time both indicators have improved in the same month for a year since April 2021.

“Perhaps the biggest unknown heading towards next year’s New Zealand Election is whether the ‘gender split’ between the two sides of politics will remain. The trends in April continue to show a huge gap between the political views of women and men.

“In April a clear majority of 54.5% of men support a National/ Act NZ coalition compared to only 35% that support Labour/ Greens – a gap of 19.5% points. In comparison, 52% of women support Labour/ Greens compared to 41% that support National/ Act NZ – a gap of 11% points.

“At the moment the ‘gender gap’ is working in favour of National/ Act NZ although with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country slowly re-opening to the world, there are new issues such as inflation and increasing interest rates that are now front and centre.

“The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has now increased interest rates four times since late last year by a total of 1.25% points to 1.50%. Even so, the latest inflation figures for the March quarter 2022 showed annual inflation at 6.9% - its highest for over 30 years. This compares to an annual rate of 5.1% ‘across the ditch’ in Australia and suggests there are more interest rate rises to come over the next few months.

“A high inflation rate and an extended cycle of higher interest rates is a new challenge for the government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and looks set to be the defining issue over the next 18 months heading into next year’s election.”

New Zealand Party Vote: 2020-22

Source: Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source. January 2020 – April 2022.
Base: New Zealand electors aged 18+. Average interviews per month = 933.


New Zealand Party Vote: NZ Govt. v Parliamentary Opposition

Source: Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source. January 2020 – April 2022.
Base: New Zealand electors aged 18+. Average interviews per month = 933.

Roy Morgan NZ Government Confidence Rating vs. ANZ-Roy Morgan NZ Consumer Confidence


Source: Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source. January 2020 – April 2022.
Base: New Zealand electors aged 18+. Average interviews per month = 933.

Two-Party Preferred: Labour Party-led Government vs. Parliamentary Opposition Parties

Labour Party-led Government

(Labour, Greens)

Parliamentary
Opposition Parties
(National, Act NZ & Maori)

NZ Election, October 17, 2020*

57.87

34.33

ROY MORGAN NEW ZEALAND POLL

Labour wins the NZ Election and, despite securing a majority of seats in Parliament,
signs a ‘Cooperation Agreement’ with the Greens – October 31, 2020

2021

January 2021

58.5

36

February 2021

58.5

37.5

March 2021

57.5

35

April 2021

55

41

May 2021

56

39

June 2021

51

43.5

July 2021

49.5

44.5

August 2021

51.5

40.5

September 2021

55

41

October 2021

50

44

November 2021

46.5

47

December 2021

44

51

2022

January 2022

43.5

51

February 2022

43

51.5

March 2022

42.5

49

April 2022

43.5

49

*At the 2020 NZ Election the Labour party secured 50.01% of the vote which was enough to govern in their own right but Labour opted to sign a ‘Cooperation Agreement’ with the Greens, who won 7.86% of the vote. There were three Parties elected to Parliament not in Government led by National (25.58%), Act NZ (7.59%) and the Maori Party (1.17%).

Voting Intention Summary

The following table compares the latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Polls on Voting Intention with the result from the October 17, 2020, General Election:

National-led Governments (& supporting parties) are highlighted in Blue.

Labour-led Governments (& supporting parties) are highlighted in Red.

PARTY VOTE

Labour

Green Party*

National

ACT NZ

Maori Party**

TOP**

NZ First

Other

ELECTIONS

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

October 12, 1996*

28.19

10.10

33.87

6.10

n/a

n/a

13.35

8.39

November 27, 1999

38.74

5.16

30.50

7.04

n/a

n/a

4.26

14.30

July 27, 2002

41.26

7.00

20.93

7.14

n/a

n/a

10.38

13.29

September 17, 2005

41.10

5.30

39.10

1.51

2.12

n/a

5.72

5.15

November 8, 2008

33.99

6.72

44.93

3.65

2.39

n/a

4.07

4.25

November 26, 2011

27.48

11.06

47.31

1.07

1.43

n/a

6.59

5.06

September 20, 2014

25.13

10.70

47.04

0.69

1.32

n/a

8.66

6.46

September 23, 2017

36.89

6.27

44.45

0.50

1.18

2.44

7.20

1.07

October 17, 2020

50.01

7.86

25.58

7.59

1.17

1.51

2.60

3.70

ROY MORGAN POLL

December 2020

44

10.5

28

10

2

2

2

1.5

2021

January 2021

47

11.5

25

9

2

1.5

2

2

February 2021

45

13.5

29

7.5

1

1

1.5

1.5

March 2021

45.5

12

23

11

1

2

2.5

3

April 2021

41.5

13.5

29.5

9

2.5

0.5

1

2.5

May 2021

45

11

28.5

9

1.5

1.5

2

1.5

June 2021

38.5

12.5

29.5

11.5

2.5

2

1.5

2

July 2021

39.5

10

29

13

2.5

3

2

1

August 2021

39.5

12

25

13

2.5

2

2.5

3.5

September 2021

45.5

9.5

23

16

2

1.5

1.5

1

October 2021

39.5

10.5

26

16

2

1

2.5

2.5

November 2021

36

10.5

26.5

17.5

3

1.5

2.5

2.5

December 2021

35.5

8.5

31.5

18.5

1

1

2

2

2022

January 2022

33

10.5

35

13.5

2.5

1.5

2.5

1.5

February 2022

32

11

38

11.5

2

1

2

2.5

March 2022

32

10.5

38

9

2

1.5

4

3

April 2022

33.5

10

38

9.5

1.5

2

2.5

3

*The 1996 Election was the first New Zealand Election contested via MMP (Mixed Member Proportional). At the 1996 Election the Greens Party contested as part of the “Alliance” political grouping with four other political parties.
**The Maori Party was launched in July 2004. The Opportunities Party (TOP) was launched in November 2016.


Roy Morgan New Zealand Seat Predictor

The following table compares the projected seats to be won by the various New Zealand political parties based on the latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Polls on Voting Intention with the results from previous MMP Elections:

National-led Governments (& supporting parties) are highlighted in Blue.

Labour-led Governments (& supporting parties) are highlighted in Red.

SEAT COUNT

Labour

Green Party*

National

ACT NZ

Maori Party**

NZ First

Other

ELECTIONS

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

October 12, 1996*

37

0

44

8

0

17

14*

November 27, 1999

49

7

39

9

0

5

11*

July 27, 2002

52

9

27

9

0

13

10*

September 17, 2005

50

6

48

2

4

7

4*

November 8, 2008

43

9

58

5

5

0

2*

November 26, 2011

34

14

59

1

3

8

2*

September 20, 2014

32

14

60

1

2

11

1*

September 23, 2017

46

8

56

1

0

9

0

October 17, 2020

65

10

33

10

2

0

0

ROY MORGAN

SEAT PREDICTOR

December 2020

56

13

36

13

2

0

0

2021

January 2021

60

15

32

11

2

0

0

February 2021

56

17

36

10

1

0

0

March 2021

59

16

30

14

1

0

0

April 2021

52

17

37

11

3

0

0

May 2021

57

14

36

11

2

0

0

June 2021

49

16

37

15

3

0

0

July 2021

50

13

37

17

3

0

0

August 2021

51

16

33

17

4

0

0

September 2021

57

12

29

20

2

0

0

October 2021

51

13

33

20

3

0

0

November 2021

46

14

34

22

4

0

0

December 2021

45

11

40

23

1

0

0

2022

January 2022

42

13

45

17

3

0

0

February 2022

41

14

48

15

2

0

0

March 2022

42

14

50

12

2

0

0

April 2022

43

13

49

13

2

0

0

*Other seats won at elections from 1996 - 2014 include: 1996 – 14 seats: Alliance (13 seats) & United NZ (1 seat); 1999 – 11 seats: Alliance (10 seats) & United NZ (1 seat); 2002 – 10 seats: United Future (8 seats) & Progressive (2 seats); 2005 – 4 seats: United Future (3 seats) & Progressive (1 seat); 2008 – 2 seats: Progressive (1 seat) & United Future (1 seat); 2011 – 2 seats: United Future (1 seat) & Mana Party (1 seat); 2014 – 1 seat: United Future (1 seat).

Fourth National Government (1990 – 1999): 1996 NZ Election: National (44 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs in coalition with NZ First (17 seats) for a total of 61 seats in the 120 seat Parliament.

Fifth Labour Government (1999-2008): 1999 NZ Election: Labour (49 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs in coalition with Alliance (10 seats) and the support of the Greens (7 seats) for a total of 66 seats in the 120 seat Parliament. 2002 NZ Election: Labour (52 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs in coalition with the Progressive Coalition (2 seats) and confidence and supply from United Future (8 seats) for a total of 62 seats in the 120 seat Parliament. 2005 NZ Election: Labour (50 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs in coalition with the Progressive Coalition (1 seat) and confidence and supply from New Zealand First (7 seats) and United Future (3 seats) for a total of 61 seats in the 121 seat Parliament (including 1 ‘overhang’ seat).

Fifth National Government (2008-2017): 2008 NZ Election: National (58 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs with the confidence and supply of Act NZ (5 seats), the Maori Party (5 seats) and United Future (1 seat) for a total of 69 seats in the 122 seat Parliament (including 2 ‘overhang’ seats). 2011 NZ Election: National (59 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs with the confidence and supply of Maori Party (3 seats), Act NZ (1 seat) and United Future (1 seat) for a total of 64 seats in the 121 seat Parliament (including 1 ‘overhang’ seat). 2014 NZ Election: National (60 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs with the confidence and supply of Maori Party (2 seats), Act NZ (1 seat) and United Future (1 seat) for a total of 64 seats in the 121 seat Parliament (including 1 ‘overhang’ seat).

Sixth Labour Government (2017-?): 2017 NZ Election: Labour (46 seats) ‘wins’ the NZ Election and governs in coalition with NZ First (9 seats) and the confidence and supply of the Greens (8 seats) for a total of 63 seats in the 120 seat Parliament. 2020 NZ Election: Labour (65 seats) wins the NZ Election and governs with the cooperation of the Greens (10 seats) for a total of 75 seats in the 120 seat Parliament.


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Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size

Percentage Estimate

40%-60%

25% or 75%

10% or 90%

5% or 95%

1,000

±3.0

±2.7

±1.9

±1.3

5,000

±1.4

±1.2

±0.8

±0.6

7,500

±1.1

±1.0

±0.7

±0.5

10,000

±1.0

±0.9

±0.6

±0.4

20,000

±0.7

±0.6

±0.4

±0.3

50,000

±0.4

±0.4

±0.3

±0.2