NZ opinion poll shows growing opposition to euthanasia

A significant majority of New Zealanders shift from initial support of euthanasia to opposition once questions are asked about the how such a law might actually work in practice.

An opinion poll conducted in April-May 2019 by Curia Market Research found that although initially 57% of respondents said YES and 29% NO to the question "Should a doctor should be allowed to give deadly drugs to deliberately kill a patient?"  these results flipped when respondents were asked "Would you like New Zealand to have a law that would allow a terminally ill person to receive a lethal injection because they feel depressed or that life is meaningless?" - 56% said NO and only 35% said YES.

Similarly when asked "Would you like New Zealand to have a law that would allow a terminally ill person to receive a lethal injection because they feel they are a burden?" 63% said No and only 25% said YES.

Finally when asked "Do you think doctors should be allowed to give deadly drugs to deliberately kill their patients, even if they are NOT in pain?" only 27% said NO and 59% said YES.

In other words majority support for euthanasia can only be elicited when respondents are led to believe that euthanasia is necessary for terminally ill patients with unrelievable pain.

All the evidence shows that this is not a principle reason why people request euthanasia or assisted suicide and that euthansia and assisted suicide are not needed for pain relief.

See the full opinion poll results here .