New Zealanders are trusting politicians less and less, according to a new survey.

Just 8 percent of people questioned said they trusted MPs, while government ministers edged up towards 9 percent.

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

The survey, carried out by Colmar Brunton for Victoria University's Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, asked 1000 people across the country about their confidence in government ministers, academics, judges, churches and the media, among others.

Medical practitioners scored highest with 56 percent trusting them "lots" or "completely", followed by police (53 percent). Judges and courts had a 34 percent rating.

But there was little faith in politicians, nor in media, with print and broadcast media at 9 percent, and last on the list, bloggers, trusted by 5 percent in the survey.

Not only do people have little trust in their elected officials, they're trusting them less.

The survey showed trust in MPs and government ministers fell over the last three years more than any other group, with 58 percent saying they trust them less.

ACT party leader David Seymour said the survey was concerning, though not surprising.

"It was already starting from a low base, so that is very disappointing."

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said once politicians get into parliament, they forgot the people who elected them.

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

"Many MPs are living evidence that New Zealanders can take a joke. You've seen their behaviour - their egregious, self-serving behaviour [and] the fact they get outside their electorate and forget their people."

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said politicians tended to come across as a "self-interested political class" who had "nothing better to do than throw insults at each other."

In order to fix that image, the processes in Parliament needed to change.

"The way that we examine bills breaks the process down in such a way that MPs, they show up, they make a five-minute speech and they go away again. That is clearly not a real debate.

"There are some things that the Speaker can do to lift standards of behaviour [and] I think we should have a code of ethics for politicians and political operators that is way more rigorous than the one we currently have."

Institute for Governance and Policy Studies director, Professor Michael Macaulay, said the rankings offered a snapshot of the current political climate, which was "typified by low voter turn out and a public largely disengaged with politics."

The survey revealed numbers but did not go into the reasons for people's lack of confidence, and he wanted it to be used as a basis for further research.