Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
RNZ is launching a new political poll, building on the former Newshub-Reid Research Poll, which ran successfully from 2009 to 2023.
RNZ chief news officer Mark Stevens said political polls were a way to gauge public sentiment within the election cycle.
"They are a snapshot in time of what New Zealanders are thinking or worried about. Reporting on those insights will help people understand and engage with our democracy as informed citizens," he said.
"It's also an opportunity to secure the future of a longstanding and reputable research poll, which would otherwise have been lost, and to share our reporting of it across the NZ media sector."
The RNZ-Reid Research Poll will debut in April, with about four polls each year. The polls will involve 1000 interviews nationwide. To ensure a representative coverage of the population, quotas of age and gender within areas using 2023 Census data will be used and the data weighted only if necessary.
Reid Research owner Ngaire Reid, a Fellow of the Research Association of New Zealand, has been involved in polling for media organisations since the 1980s and said while the methodology had changed, the guidelines remained the same.
"We've gone from going door-to-door for survey results to using landlines and then mobile phones and now surveying online but we remain guided by the best practice for conducting and reporting of political polls and have a commitment to ensuring objectivity through professional ethics."
RNZ's editorial policy contains guidance around coverage of polls, including information to include, context to provide and language to avoid which RNZ will follow in its reporting.
Political editor Jo Moir said this meant RNZ's coverage would focus on accurately reporting the results.
"If we have a poll with no significant changes, that's what we will report. We're looking to show the results as they are, always with the caveat that they are a moment in time, to provide insight into the political landscape for our audience."
RNZ will produce poll coverage across its radio, social and digital platforms. Coverage will be made available to other media through its content sharing agreements.
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