Election 2020: Judith Collins the preferred PM for Chinese New Zealanders

New research released on 25 August 2020 predicts how ethnic Chinese New Zealanders will vote in the upcoming 2020 General Election.

Conducted between 3-16 August 2020, independent research firm Trace Research released a new poll of how the ethnic Chinese community in New Zealand is planning to vote in this upcoming election. 

Judith Collins, leader of the National Party, is the preferred prime minister for Chinese New Zealanders. She has the vote of 52.2 per cent of ethnic Chinese. Conversely, Labour leader and current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern holds on to only 26.5 per cent support within the community. 

Yet, when it comes to the Government’s response to COVID-19, 74.7 per cent of Chinese Kiwis are satisfied (14.2 per are unsatisfied; 11.1 per cent are neutral). 

If the New Zealand General Election were held tomorrow, 62 per cent of ethnic Chinese would vote National, 21 per cent Labour, and 8.8 per cent Act. New Zealand First and Green trail behind with just 2.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent support, respectively. 

When it comes to voting in 2020, economic stimulus is the most important issue for Chinese Kiwis. Accordingly, 58.6 per cent said it was their number one priority. Taxation policies, law and order, and domestic jobs are the next three issues of importance for the ethnic Chinese community. 

Two referenda will be put to the New Zealand public at the same time as the 2020 General Election, and the Chinese Kiwi community have also indicated how they will vote in this new poll. 83.9 per cent support the End of Life Choice Act 2019, showing overwhelming support amongst ethnic Chinese for the option of assisted dying for those with terminal illness. 

Conversely, only 17.7 per cent of Chinese New Zealanders are in favour of the recreational use of marijuana. When asked if they support the proposed Cannabis Legislation and Control Bill, 82.3 per cent of ethnic Chinese said they do not. 

The research objectives by Trace Research are to encourage Chinese constituents to care about their democratic rights and engage them with the upcoming 2020 General Election, to help Chinese perceptions be better understood by wider communities in New Zealand, and to provide tracking of statistical information on the Chinese community’s political opinions, which may help the government, political parties, and politicians in their future policy deliberations.  

-       Asia Media Centre

Data notes:   

• The poll was independently conducted between 3 and 16 of August 2020 by Trace Research Ltd; 

• The results are predominantly based on an online survey distributed to Chinese New Zealand residents through Trace Research’s Chinese Panel (email invitations), with additional social media platforms used to boost sample in the hard to reach youth segment; 

• The poll received a total of 1,446 responses (1364 were eligible Chinese voters whilst 82 responses did not meet the criteria for this study, for example, IP addresses that did not belong to NZ, incomplete answers, and abnormal responses etc); 

• The final results of this poll is based on a sample of 1,364 Chinese New Zealanders who are eligible to vote in the New Zealand 2020 General Election (all respondents are 18+ years old, 45.4 per cent of whom are male and 54.6 per cent female)

• To ensure the results are representative, demographic weighting (e.g. age, gender and location) has been applied using the 2018 NZ Census statistics for the distribution of the Chinese population. The margin of error is +/-2.64 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level; 

• All respondents are ethnic Chinese, including Chinese from New Zealand (born in NZ), Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.