How do your views compare with the political parties? Vote Compass could help you decide which party policies are cut out for your vote.
Where do you sit? Find out here at 1News.co.nz/VoteCompass
Nearly half a million people used the academic-designed tool during the last election.
By using Vote Compass, New Zealanders can find out which political parties they are with on the key issues facing the country
You can choose to agree or disagree with 30 statements about issues like health, education, the environment, and tax. Vote Compass will then analyse your answers with the policies of different parties and show you how similar they are to your own views.
The online tool launched today helps put the focus on policies, not just personalities.
For example, Vote Compass could show you that you align with one party on the economy, another on health, and a third on foreign policy.
University of Auckland associate professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment said Kiwis could use the information from Vote Compass to help guide their decision on who to vote for.
"It's much easier to do Vote Compass than to read all the policy manifestos," she said.
"It definitely doesn't tell you how to vote - we're not trying to do that.
"Regardless of what your results are, you're going to then make your own decision about how to vote. But it helps you think a bit about what policies the parties are offering, and whether they're the best party to give your vote to."
Vote Compass has been built as a partnership between TVNZ, New Zealand political scientists, and data science company Vox Pop Labs.
It's backed by the Electoral Commission as a way of driving voter engagement and is delivered in association with the University of Auckland and Victoria University.
Results from the online poll also serve as a way to gauge the public's insights on hot topics, as they are tabulated by researchers every few days.
Lees-Marshment said the results on key issues reported from Vote Compass would help "elevate" the voice of the public for how politicians and the media discussed the election.
'Make your voice heard'
"Make your voice heard. It can have quite an important impact on the agenda and make sure that journalists, not just TVNZ, but other media [too] will be discussing what voters really care about."
She encouraged Kiwis to fill out the questionnaire in order to "make your voice heard".
Three years ago, Vote Compass data indicated the top three issues that voters were concerned about were the Covid-19 response, the economy, and health.
"It's a really important tool for democracy, for putting the emphasis back on the public and policies, rather than the politicians and the personalities," Lees-Marshment said.
"Democracy in New Zealand is stronger for having Vote Compass. It plays a crucial role in making sure we talk about policies, and people's views on them, and the issues that affect New Zealanders in their ordinary day-to-day lives."
Before they're reported publicly, Vote Compass results are weighted by gender, age, education, language, region, and past vote, by Census data and other population estimates, in order to approximate a representative sample.
Known academically as a "voting advice application", Vote Compass was first created and managed by Canadian political scientists as a non-profit initiative. It's part of a landscape of information from the parties and media that will help voters decide how to cast their ballot in the run up to October 14.
Over a million Kiwis have used the tool since TVNZ first introduced Vote Compass to New Zealand during the 2014 general election — nearly a decade ago.
Where do you sit? Find out here at 1News.co.nz/VoteCompass
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