Most New Zealanders want America’s Cup defended in Auckland?

A recent poll found 72 percent of New Zealanders want the next America’s Cup to be defended in Auckland, if funding is availble.

14 percent want it to be hosted overseas.

13 percent of the respondents either don’t care or refused to answer.

The poll, by Curia Market Research, had 1000 respondents aged 18 or over and used a random selection of 24,000 phone numbers, both landline and mobile.

The poll also found that only 45 percent of respondents were aware the Gvernment has offered $31 million to help host the next America’s Cup in New Zealand, compared to $133 million for this year’s successful defence.

51 percent of respondents were unaware of the different funding offers.

The poll also asked: “Bearing in mind that the 2021 America’s Cup attracted a global audience of 941 million people with an estimated media value of $1.4 billion, would you support or oppose the Government increasing its funding offer from $31 million to $100 million?”

40 percent of respondents to that question support the Government increasing the funding offer to $100 million, with 45 percent opposed.

Based on the sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is plus or minus 3.1 percent, at the 95 percent confidence level.

The poll was commissioned by Saunders Unsworth Ltd, which describes itself as a “Government Relations and Lobbying Consultancy”.