Business decision makers approve Government's performance

Business leaders are more likely to postively rate the government than general voters.

A Horizon Research poll, a conducted between September 12-30, shows the National-led government’s overall performance met the expectations of 51.8% of the country’s business decision makers, The National Business Review reports.

That was significantly higher than the overall adult population’s view of the government’s performance, with just 42.5% of that group saying it was as good as they would have liked.

The poll showed that 52.6% of business decision makers approved of the government’s management of the economy, while 53.3% of that group thought the country was generally headed in the right direction.

The overall adult population was not quite so confident, with only 37.8% approving the government’s economic management, while 43.1% of the same group believed the country was headed in the right direction.

Only 12.5% of business decision makers said the government’s performance was much worse than they expected. That compared with 17.8% of the overall adult population.

Despite more than half of business decision makers supporting the government’s overall and economic performance, 32.9% of that group thought their households were worse off since the government came to power, compared with 45.3% of the overall adult population.

The poll showed the numbers translated into votes.

Asked which of the two main parties they thought would govern best for their own household during the next three years, 58.8% of business decision makers chose National, while 23.8% chose Labour, compared with 43.3% of all respondents who chose National and 34.8% Labour.

Business decision makers were also more likely to have an opinion on whether they supported National or Labour, with only 17.4% unsure, compared with 22% of the overall adult population.

Horizon principal Graeme Colman said given the recession, the poll results showed that, in general, business believed the government had turned in a commendable performance during its first term.

However, he predicted National would still require the support of a coalition partner if it wanted another term in office.

The poll involved 2462 respondents nationwide, weighted by age, gender, personal income, region, ethnicity and party vote. The maximum margin of error on the national sample at a 95% confidence level is +/- 2%.

There were 558 business decision makers polled. This group was defined as business managers and executives, proprietors, self-employed and professionals.

-  by cwilliscroft@nbr.co.nz

Download a full Horizon Research Report on these results here.