Jim Adams
As the country prepares to go to the polls, about 240,000 people have pointed their cyberpreferences towards the Vote Compass website to see where they stand politically with each of the major parties on the big issues.
The website asks a series of questions to gauge where its users lie politically - and suggests which parties they most closely align with.
The Rotorua Daily Post grabbed two unsuspecting residents off the street to find out how their political preferences measured up to Vote Compass.
First up was New Zealand-born octogenarian Jim Adams, who has lived most of his life in Canada and Britain before returning to New Zealand three years ago to settle.
Mr Adams' Vote Compass results surprised him, he said. He was classified as slightly left of centre - socially conservative and economically to the left.
Mr Adams considered he would be more to the right of the political sphere. "I'm a little surprised because I am extremely right wing, but I guess where I am is not a bad place to be."
Mr Adams' choices aligned him closely with NZ First, the Conservatives and Labour.
When the results were "weighted" he was placed a little more left of centre.
The results showed he rated Conservative Party leader Colin Craig the highest of all leaders, followed closely by David Cunliffe, and Mana Party leader Hone Harawira.
Mr Adams' choices also had him strongly agreeing with New Zealand First policies (77 per cent), followed by the Conservatives (66 per cent) and Labour (65 per cent).
He said the questionnaire was useful with well-worded questions, although immigration should have been broadened more to ask what type of immigration was approved.
"Vote Compass Mr Adams" aligned with NZ First and the Conservatives over abortion rights, and supporting Mana, Maori, Greens and Internet for more support for Maori language.
When it came to stopping foreign ownership of farms Mr Adams was strongly in the Labour, NZ First, Conservatives and Green camp to do more to prevent overseas ownership. He supported fewer immigrants, corporations and the wealthy paying more tax, more funds for conservation, minimum wage raised, and government-built affordable housing.
Second up was bookshop assistant Jemma Pirrie, a university graduate.
Mrs Pirrie said her Vote Compass result - economically left and socially progressive, and aligned to Labour (68 per cent) - was close to correct. She was also closely aligned with Internet Party (63 per cent) and Greens (60 per cent), which she was surprised with.
"I need to read up more on the Internet Party policies as I don't know a lot about them," she said.
Under Vote Compass Jemma rated Green party co-leader Metiria Turei and Labour Party leader David Cunliffe most highly among the leaders. "That's a surprise as well as I don't know a lot about the party leaders."
She rated poverty and housing as the most important issues facing the country.
Check VoteCompass out at tvnz.co.nz/votecompass.