Government suffers poor performance ratings on Auckland issues

Nearly 47 out of 100 Aucklanders rated the Government’s performance on the Central Rail Link project as poor in the fortnight before it announced it would support a 2020 start date for the project.

46.9% rated performance on the issue has poor to very poor and 19.9% said it was good to very good. Others were neutral or not sure, according to a June 13 to 26 Horizon Research poll of 1026 Aucklanders aged 18+. Weighted to represent the Auckland adult population the poll has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

The issue is among a number on which the Government is perceived to be performing poorly.

Top of the list is affordable housing (64.7% poor, 9.7% good), followed by traffic congestion (60.2% poor, 10.2% good).

It is also rated as listening poorly to Aucklanders (55.9% poor, 14,5% good) and scores poorly on trustworthiness  (49% poor, 18.1% good), inspiration (47,2% poor, 13.9% good) and leadership overall (45% poor, 19.7% good).

Aucklanders also perceived the Government had managed relationships with Auckland Mayor Len Brown poorly (44.1% poor, 14.7% good), though it fared slightly better on managing relationships with Auckland Council (43.5% poor, 26.6% poor).

The Government got its best performance score for building new roads (28.9% good) though 35.7% rated this poor. Major investments in new motorways, electric passenger trains and electrifying rail do not appear to have been recognised by Aucklanders.

The Central Rail Link (CRL) announcement may go some way to improving the Government's performance ratings on the CRL and traffic congestion issues.

Several polls, including one by Horizon, have consistently found about 63% of Aucklanders support building the CRL.

Results from those polls are here:

http://horizonresearch.co.nz/page/267/64-of-auckla

Respondents to this survey are members of the HorizonPoll national online panel, selected to represent the adult population who live in the Auckland Council area. Results are weighted by age, gender, ethnicity, personal income and employment status) to provide a representative sample of the 18+ population within the Auckland Council area. The maximum margin of error at a 95% confidence level on the overall sample is +/- 3.1%.

 What happened to Government supporters in the performance rating poll?

That's what one HorizonPoll panel member asks - and we provide some insight here.

For further information please contact

Grant McInman, Manager, Horizon Research, Telephone 021 076 2040, e-mail gmcinman@horizonresearch.co.nz