New Poll: Comparing mayors from our largest cities

The results are based on a series of monthly polls across New Zealand and, because the sample sizes for the Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington mayors are larger, trends were able to be deduced over time.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager for Local Government, Sam Warren, said:

“Of the three mayors from our largest councils, only Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has actually improved his approval score. Perhaps not so coincidentally, it is also Mayor Wayne Brown who has kept local rates increases the lowest of the three metro mayors.”

“Mayor Wayne Brown’s most recent approval score was +14 percent in February 2025 by his Auckland constituents, which puts him in good stead following his announcement to seek re-election later this year.”

“Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger’s approval has moved about the place. He had a positive first three quarters, dropped to -7 percent in December 2024, recovered – and now lands just above neutral at +1 percent approval as of February 2025.”

“Wellington City Mayor Tory Whanau had a positive score of +4 percent in her first quarter, followed by a slight decline to -1 percent. A massive drop took to -30 percent took place, and she has stayed in the negatives since.”

“Recovering to -11 percent in June 2024, Whanau took another massive fall as a result of her failure to pass her Long-term Plan that ultimately brought in an observer from Government. As of February 2025, Whanau has a -42 percent approval score and is the lowest placed mayor of the three largest city mayors – and third least approved mayor in the country on average.”

"Of the three cities, Wellington City has the highest rates increase last year on average. Rates are expected to further increase by more than 175% over the next 10 years, as is reflected by the mayor's low approval score.”

“A chart of the three metro mayors’ performance over time can be found at www.taxpayers.org.nz/metro_mayors”.