New Ipsos issues survey shows Labour most trusted to fix 7 of the country’s top 10 problems

Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Labour was deemed most capable of dealing with seven of the country’s top 10 issues.

Labour tops the Ipsos Issues Monitor quarterly survey, deemed most trusted to handle 13 of top 20 voter concerns including inflation and healthcare.

The fuel crisis has emerged as a major concern in the latest Ipsos survey, joining inflation, healthcare, economy and housing in the top five issues.

National gained a five-point lead over Labour on economic management.

The Labour Party has come out on top in the latest Ipsos Issues Monitor, a quarterly survey showing what voters are most worried about and which parties they trust.

Inflation, healthcare, the economy and housing remain in the top five issues New Zealanders are most concerned about – but the fuel crisis has now jumped up as one of the major problems worrying voters.

Of those issues, Labour was deemed the most capable of managing all of the top five except the economy.

After tying with Labour as the most capable party to manage the economy in the last survey, issued in February, National won a five-point gain over Labour in the May survey.

But on the issue of tax, now ranked down in 14 on the list of voter concerns, Labour has maintained its lead over National. It has consistently been deemed the most trusted on tax, despite National campaigning heavily against Labour on the issue.

In order of concern, these are the issues those surveyed were most concerned about – and the parties they trusted most to deal with each issue:

Ahead of the 2023 election, National won the public’s trust for 15 of these 20 top issues.

In this survey, Labour was most trusted for 13 of the top 20 issues – including ties with National for the issues of population and addiction.

National claimed six of 20, including those two ties.

Average households will spend $55 more a week this year, with 70% of the increase driven by the fuel crisis. While Australia cuts fuel excise, the NZ Government remains reluctant to follow suit.

The Greens were most trusted for two issues – climate change and pollution.

And Te Pāti Māori was most trusted to deal with issues impacting Māori.

ACT, NZ First and the Opportunity Party were not deemed most capable to deal with any of the top 20 issues facing New Zealand.

Between surveys, there had been a significant uptake in people concerned about fuel. Fewer people were worried about crime. There was a slight increase in concern about immigration.

The Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor also asked respondents to rate the Government’s performance out of 10. It averaged a result of 4.2, the same score from February – which was an improvement on the November result of 3.9, an all time low for the survey.

Ipsos surveyed 1000 adults in May, using online interviews. Its results were weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the New Zealand population.

Results were gathered between May 15 and 20. This was the 32nd edition of the quarterly Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor.