Results of pre-election survey

On 18 June, Ratepayers' Alliance supporters received a survey about their priorities and preferences for the coming mayoral election. The following summarises the 2,200 responses.

The most popular Mayoral Candidate is the “none of the above” option, with 51.6% of preferences. This is followed by John Tamihere at 24.3%, John Palino at 15.9%, Phil Goff at 4.0%, and Craig Lord at 3.2%.

When forced to choose between Phil Goff and John Tamihere, 80.4% of respondents to that question prefer Mr Tamihere – however, many respondents skipped this question or indicated in a later comment that they were not pleased by the choice.

We asked supporters to respond to a series of statements on a sliding scale, with 0 meaning "strongly disagree" and 100 meaning "strongly agree".

"Rates are too high for the services received"

Average score: 81

"Auckland Council is responsive to my concerns"

Average score: 22

"I would prefer an increase in rates rather than an increase in fuel tax"

Average score: 35

"I support Auckland Council’s facilitation of e-scooters (such as Lime)"

Average score: 35

"Speed limits in the Auckland CBD should be reduced to 40 kilometres per hour"

Average score: 30

"Speed limits in rural areas within greater Auckland should be reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour"

Average score: 28

"I support the Council's proposal to introduce weekly food scrap waste curbside collection, even if it does reduce general waste collection from weekly to fortnightly"

Average score: 32

"I get good value for money for the rates I pay"

Average score: 17

We also divided these results based on Ward and Local Board areas. The results were overall consistent across location, with a few variations.

We asked supporters about rate hikes - specifically, how such hikes should be capped. 83% of respondents supported either a total rates freeze, or a cap tied to the rate of inflation.

We also asked supporters to rank their preference for proposed infrastructure investments. The proposed light rail (tram) to the airport was very unpopular, with only cycleways ranking lower when compared to competing infrastructure investments. The most preferred infrastructure investment (of those listed) was a second harbour crossing.

Respondents were also asked whether or not Ports of Auckland should be relocated: opinion was split 49-51.

Finally, we asked supporters (using a blank response field) about the qualities sought in a Mayoral candidate. The most common response was “honesty”, or a variation thereof.