With just days to go until Saturday's election, you might know which party you’re backing. But how closely do its policies match your views and how much do you have in common with people voting differently?
Over the past four weeks, 1News Vote Compass has explored the issues shaping this election: what people want fixed, where they disagree and where their views depart from those of the parties they support.
The findings from the more than 400,000 people who have used the online tool suggest political differences don’t always fall where we expect.
Younger and older voters share a pressing concern. Communities at opposite ends of the political map face similar household pressures. And backing a party doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with its policies.
Aziz Al Sa'afin breaks it down below so you don't have to.
Vote Compass presents 30 policy propositions and asks how strongly you agree or disagree.
Your answers show how your views compare with the political parties. You can explore individual issues and read the material used to explain their positions.
It is a policy comparison, not a recommendation about how to vote.
Leadership, trust, local candidates, coalition possibilities and the issues you consider non-negotiable may also shape your decision.
Whether you’ve already chosen a party or are still weighing your options, there’s still time to explore where you stand at 1News.co.nz/VoteCompass.
New Zealand's biggest concern crosses generations
For all the arguments on the campaign trail, one issue connects younger and older voters: the cost of living.
In the first Vote Compass issues analysis, it was the top concern for both those aged 18–25 and those aged 70 and over.
Among the younger group, 30.9% named it their single most important election issue. Among the older group, 25.8% did.
But their priorities then diverged.
Younger participants ranked the economy second, at 16.2%, followed by education at 7.4%.
For those aged 70 and over, healthcare was almost level with the cost of living, at 23.8%. The economy followed at 18.2%.
Just 5.6% of younger participants identified healthcare as their top issue.
Those differences were reflected in the people 1News met.
Nineteen-year-old first-time voter Daniel spoke about friends struggling on minimum wage.
Retiree Jan was thinking about her granddaughter’s nursing training - a reminder that people’s concerns can extend beyond their own generation.
For political scientist Lara Greaves, connecting with voters means demonstrating an understanding of their daily pressures.
“And so they have to figure out some way that you can connect to the average New Zealander on the street and make them feel like you understand that they need to bring down the cost of living.”
The environment has slipped down younger voters’ priority list
The environment ranked third among 18–25-year-olds in the 2023 Vote Compass analysis, with 10.8% naming it their most important issue.
In the 2026 findings, it was fourth, at 6.7%, behind the cost of living, the economy and education.
That measures its priority relative to other issues - not whether young people have stopped caring about it.
Greaves questioned whether the pressure of everyday expenses was leaving less room for other concerns.
“At what point does a cost of living just end up too big of an issue that it starts to crowd out the environment?” she asked.
Young and old are worried about the cost of living but their opinions part ways after that. (Source: 1News)
A separate analysis offers another insight into younger people’s expectations of government.
Around two-thirds of participants aged 18–29 supported restoring free tertiary education, compared with roughly 44% of those aged 65 and over.
Across all ages, around half supported the proposition.
Some issues divide us sharply
The proposal to abolish the Māori electoral roll produced the strongest polarisation in a Vote Compass analysis.
About 44% disagreed with abolition, while 37% agreed. The remainder were neutral or didn’t know.
Fully-funded GP visits for everyone and allowing police to order rough sleepers to move on also featured among the most polarising propositions.
But strong views on individual policies don’t necessarily translate into a settled party choice.
When 1News put those issues to three undecided voters, their answers revealed different considerations.
Shanika opposed abolishing the Māori electoral roll.
“I, as a Māori person myself, I want that representation in the parliament.”
Ryan questioned what moving rough sleepers on would achieve.
“So where are they going to go? It becomes another person’s problem.”
Savera could see benefits in fully funded GP visits, but wanted to understand how they would be paid for.
“Where is the money going to come from?”
For her, choosing a party meant weighing up more than one policy.
“Because of course not one party is going to have everything that I think is important and support that.”
1News reporter Aziz Al Sa'afin spoke to Breakfast about the latest Vote Compass results. (Source: Breakfast)
Your party might disagree with you
One of the clearest findings came from comparing parties’ policy positions with the average answers of people intending to vote for them.
For all three coalition partners - National, ACT and NZ First - the biggest gap concerned a generational tobacco-sales ban.
The parties were recorded as strongly opposed. Their supporters’ average responses leaned towards agreement, more clearly for National and more modestly for ACT and NZ First.
The National-led coalition repealed the previous generational ban in 2024.
Asked about the finding, ACT leader David Seymour said: “That, in my view, is a good intention, but as a responsible politician, you have to campaign on things that you think are practical to deliver.”
Other parties had their own points of disagreement.
Labour’s largest gap concerned restricting participation in women’s sport to women assigned female at birth. The party was recorded as strongly disagreeing, while supporters’ average responses leaned towards agreement.
party leader Chris Hipkins said decisions should be made sport by sport.
For the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, the biggest gaps concerned government limits on annual council rates increases. Both parties were recorded as strongly opposed, while their supporters’ averages favoured limits.
Te Pāti Māori’s was the largest party–supporter gap in the analysis. The party said a “blunt central government cap” could leave councils unable to fund essential infrastructure and services.
Opportunity’s biggest gap concerned limits on rent increases. Its supporters’ average response was close to “somewhat agree”, while the party was recorded as strongly opposed.
Leader Qiulae Wong emphasised tax reform, but said the party would consider measures that could help in the short term.
Our political map is more complicated than party strongholds
An analysis of policy answers from 183,349 participants placed Waikato furthest right among electorates.
Wellington Bays was the most left-leaning general electorate, followed by Wellington North, Dunedin, Mt Albert and Māngere.
All seven Māori electorates sat further left than the general electorates, with Tāmaki Makaurau furthest left overall.
These are relative policy positions, not predictions of which candidates or parties will win.
An electorate’s MP doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story either. Epsom and Tāmaki both elected ACT MPs in 2023, and the party sits to the right in the Vote Compass mapping of parties. But neither ranked among the ten most right-leaning electorates on the combined measure.
Political scientist Danny Osborne pointed to other factors influencing voters’ choices.
“Some of it has to do with political leader personalities and the attraction to particular candidates.”
Vote Compass reveals how communities view policy differently - even when they share the same concerns. (Source: 1News)
Different politics, familiar pressures
The people behind those rankings also shared concerns.
In Waikato, agricultural contractor Aaron Wesford spoke about fuel prices and the financial pressure of buying his first home.
In Wellington Bays, students said homeownership remained out of reach, while another voter wanted relief at the supermarket.
One student summed up the common ground: “I think honestly we all have the same wants, but we just approach it very differently.”
That distinction also runs through the wider findings: agreeing something needs fixing doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing on the solution or who should deliver it.
Methodology
Results are based on respondents to Vote Compass. Data were weighted to align the sample characteristics with those of the New Zealand adult population on the following characteristics: sex, age, ethnicity, education, and past voting record. A margin of error does not apply to non-probability samples. The modeled error estimate for a percentage in the overall sample is ±0.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Results based on subsamples of the data should be expected to contain greater error.
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