You know a Government is in trouble when you see a major news organisation running an online poll asking people whether they think the Prime Minister has had a good week or not. Which I saw the other week.

And you know a coalition is in trouble when you get one of its senior members telling a public meeting that the Prime Minister is hiding. Which is what NZ First’s Shane Jones did yesterday.

Things come in threes, of course, so let’s add the findings of the latest Ipsos Issues Monitor Survey, which has found that voters see Labour being most capable of doing something about the cost of living.

And that people have more confidence in Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Māori collectively to do something about 17 of the top 20 issues facing New Zealand, with National owning just three: the economy, crime and defence. But even on those issues it’s losing ground.

So what conclusion can we take from all that?

There’s only one. People are losing confidence in the Government. 

To see how bad it’s got for the Government, you just need to think about that stat about the left block being seen as having much more of a handle on the cost of living and the 16 other issues they beat the Government on. 

Because, hand on heart, are you telling me that - if there was an election right now - and you couldn’t bring yourself to vote for National, ACT or NZ First, that you could bring yourself to vote for the likes of Labour? Or the Greens? Or Te Pati Maori?

If I had to vote today, I’d have no idea who to vote for.

The Ipsos monitor is a quarterly survey that asks New Zealanders what they consider to be the most important issues facing the country, and the political parties they have faith in to sort them.

Its latest survey shows the cost of living is still the number one issue concerning voters, with 60 percent of people saying it’s an issue. And most people think Labour is the party to deal with it.

The second most-concerning thing for people is the hospital and wider health system. Most people think Labour is the party to sort that out too.

The third most concerning issue is the economy. National still holds public confidence on that one.

Housing supply and the cost of housing is the fourth most concerning issue for voters. And more people have confidence in Labour on that one, too.

Rounding-out the top five is crime and law and order. National still beats Labour on that front and the Government will have been very relieved with the latest crime stats which show crime is down.

But, whichever way you look at it, people are losing confidence.

And it’s not just in the data. It’s also in the reactions we’ve seen to recent Government anouncements.

The supermarket stuff last week. The debacle with the paywave surcharges and the Government thinking it had a brilliant solution which, we all worked out pretty quickly, won’t save us any money. 

They’re just a couple of examples.

And I know that some people will say that people are always down on the Government during winter. But I don’t think the first day of spring is going to bring any relief for the Government.

I’m not surprised the Government is getting such harsh treatment criticism. But I am surprised that so many people think the parties on the left could do a better job on so many of the big issues facing the country.

I don’t have much faith or confidence in any political party. What about you?

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