Voters worried over unemployment

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 27

Voters worried over unemployment

Concern about unemployment has reappeared to dominate voters* worries as public unease - about most other aspects of the economy wanes. Unemployment was the prime concern of 34 per cent of voters surveyed near the end of April while 17 per cent nominated the economy in general. Both issues recorded equal concern at the top of the top 10 problems identified by voters in the February “New Zealand Herald”-National Research Bureau poll. The drop in general economic concern recorded in the latest poll brings that worry down to its lowest level in any poll during the term of the present Government Concern about inflation has also

The top 10 problems account now for 87% of voters’ primary concerns. Unemployment was cited by supporters of all three main political parties as the prime concern. It was nominated by 39 per cent of Labour supporters, 30 per cent of National supporters and 25 per cent of Democratic Party followers. Inflation was regarded as less of a problem by National voters than by Labour supporters. Interest rates caused greater concern to National voters than to the Government’s followers. Law and order rated among the concerns of each party’s following but only the Democratic Party’s constituency gave significant ratings to social climate and public morality issues. All figures are subject to a maximum statistical sampling error of plus or minus 2 per cent.

abated a little since February but unease over interest rates has risen markedly. Among other public worries, law and order has returned to the level it recorded at the end of last year but racial problems have dropped back to account for 2 per cent of voters’ primary concerns after reaching an unusual 4 per cent level in February. The poll was held from April 25 to April 28 among 2000 eligible voters selected by random probability methods in the 20 main population centres. Each respondant was asked, “What is the single most important problem facing New Zealand right now?” The following table compares their answers with those in previous “Herald”N.R.B. polls.

The following tables give the main concerns of each party’s supporters: Labour supporters Unemployment 39% Economy 16% Inflation 8% Overseas Trade 6% Law and order 6% National supporters Unemployment 30% Economy 19% Law and order 8% Government 7% Inflation 6% Interest rates 6% Democratic Party supporters Unemployment 25% Economy 15% Inflation 13% Social climate 11% Law and order 8% Copyright 1987 — the' “New Zealand Herald”

May Feb ’87 ’87 % % Dec ’86 % Jul ’86 % Mar ■86 % Oct Jun Feb Oct Jun ’85 ’85 ’85 ’84 ’84 Apr Feb Dec Sep ’84 ’84 ’83 ’83 % % % % % % % % % Unemployment Economy in general Law and order 34 17 7 26 26 5 38 18 7 25 26 6 17 27 4 16 25 5 16 29 4 22 21 3 32 23 6 38 21 4 43 14 3 56 14 2 50 16 2 58 15 3 Inflation 6 8 6 4 10 10 10 8 4 3 4 2 3 2 Overseas trade 5 7 5 5 6 6 8 8 12 11 7 6 10 5 Government 5 6 5 5 5 4 8 4 4 4 5 4 5 Interest rates 5 3 2 2 7 8 3 Social climate/ Public morality 4 3 3 4 6 4 5 6 6 5 6 4 5 5 ANZUS/nuclear ships 2 1 3 3 4 8 1 16 3 Racial problems 2 4 1 2 1 1