KEY INSIGHTS
Of New Zealander’s polled:

• Social unity/division
  • 77% believe NZ is becoming more divided (42% ‘much more’ + 35% ‘a little more’)
  • 3% believe NZ is becoming less divided (1% ‘much less’ + 2% ‘a little less’)
• Co-governance
  • 45% don’t want more co-governance = 1.6x more than the 28% who want more.
  • 48% want a co-governance referendum = 2.7x more than the 18% who don’t.
  • 34% don’t understand co-governance. 45% a basic understanding. 17% have a good understanding.
• Use of Te Reo Māori
  • 52% want to retain the name New Zealand for our country. 36% prefer Aotearoa New Zealand. 10% prefer Aotearoa.
  • 49% want government departments to be known by their English name = 1.9x more than the 26% who don’t.
  • 45% don’t want Māori on road signs = 1.4x more than the 32% who do
• Demographic quotas
  • 38% want female quotas in parliament = slightly more than the 33% who don’t
  • 38% don’t want ethnicity quotas in parliament = slightly more than the 31% who do

KEY NOTES

• This information is from 4 different research companies, as shown in the graphics above.
• Stuff Freshwater Strategy Poll:
  • There wasn’t a distinction made between the co-governance of natural resources, e.g. rivers, and the co-governance of public services, e.g. water infrastructure.
  • There was no option to have both English and Māori government department names.
  • There was no distinction made between place name road signs, e.g. Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau, and functional road signs, e.g. STOP.
  • There is an existing Māori quota in parliament through the 7 Māori electorate seats. This may have influenced how people answered that question.
• Newshub Reid:
  • Didn’t offer the option of ‘New Zealand Aotearoa’
  • This is an older poll from January 2023, so the results may be different now. It is similar to the 1 News Kantar Public Poll from September 2021 where 58% want to retain ‘New Zealand’, 31% want ‘Aotearoa New Zealand’ and 9% wanted ‘Aotearoa’. We have not seen more recent research.

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KEY QUESTION

1. Are we having the right amount, too little, or too much public discussion on each of these decisions?
2. Should a government be able to progress policies of high public interest that weren’t campaigned on in a general election, or weren’t voted on via a referendum?
3. As a country, do we hold the right number of referendums, too few, or too many?
4. Is investment in direct democracy a good use of taxpayer funding, whereby voters get to have more say on more issues more often?
5. When will the Prime Minister define Co-Governance as promised, since only 17% have a good understanding?
6. What is the best way to celebrate our Māori heritage in a multicultural society, to create greater social unity and less social division?

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HAVE YOUR SAY

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Full data analysis
Please contact us if you would like the full analysis as the table is far too large to insert into the content here.

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Other notes:

• All publicly available data has been published.
• The Post is owned by Stuff, and The Post is a sub-brand, so we called this ‘Stuff & Freshwater Strategy’ rather than ‘The Post Freshwater Strategy’ poll.
• We didn’t show the full questions asked in that Freshwater Strategy poll in the graphic above as they were very long and would have reduced engagement and comprehension. The full questions were:
  • There should be more co-governance with Māori in government decision-making.
  • There should be a referendum on Māori co-governance, to end the confusion and let every New Zealander have a say.
  • Government departments should be known by their English name, not their Māori name.
  • Road signage should be written in Māori as well as English.
  • There should be quotas to ensure different ethnic groups are represented in parliament and government.
  • There should be quotas to ensure enough women are represented in parliament and government.
• We ordered the 4 graphics from newest to oldest.
• Graphic colours:
  • We have used traffic light colours for most of the graphics where green = support, red = oppose, grey = neutral/don’t know/refused.
  • For the co-governance understanding poll, grey was taken for don’t know/refused, so we chose orange to represent a basic understanding (some knowledge but also some missing).
  • For the country name graphic, we used New Zealand’s primary national colours – black and white – and red for ‘Aotearoa’ since it is the next dominant colour used in Māori national symbols.
• Additional notes from each research company can be found in the data source pages below.
• All numbers are provisional and subject to revision.

Thank you to The Guardian, Essential, Stuff/The Post, Freshwater Strategy, TVNZ/1 News, Kantar Public/Verian, Discovery/Newshub, Reid, and the Factors who helped pull this together.

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SOURCES:

The Guardian Essential = https://essentialreport.co.nz/questions/new-zealand-becoming-more-or-less-divided/

Stuff/The Post Freshwater Strategy = https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/350072912/voters-want-referendum-co-governance-not-bilingual-signs-poll-shows

1 News Kantar Public = https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/03/15/poll-how-well-do-people-understand-three-waters-co-governance/

Newshub Reid = https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/02/newshub-reid-research-poll-what-should-country-s-official-name-be.html

(c) Copyright of the companies listed above.

Republished under permission

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Did we make a mistake, or have you got smarter data?  Let us know.

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