RNZ launched a political poll in April 2025 in partnership with the longstanding and reputable polling company Reid Research.
The poll builds on the former Newshub-Reid Research Poll, which ran successfully from 2009 to 2023.
The polls, which will run about four times a year, involve 1000 online interviews nationwide.
Each poll includes standard questions about party vote preference and preferred prime minister, along with whether respondents feel the current government is taking the country in the right direction.
Responses to these questions will be collated and updated on this page each polling cycle.
Each poll also includes several topical questions. The results of these will be reported as part of that cycle's news coverage.
Party vote
The crucial question asked in each polling cycle focuses on who respondents would give their party vote to if a general election was held the following day.
These are the results of the most recent poll.
And here is how the party vote trend has evolved over time.
RNZ uses these party vote results to calculate the seats each party would be allocated in Parliament.
Under current rules, parties must receive 5 percent of the vote or win an electorate seat to be returned to Parliament.
For the purposes of this poll, if support for a party currently in Parliament falls below the 5 percent threshold, but that party currently holds an electorate seat, RNZ assumes that party will retain its electorates.
New Zealand does not vote for its party leaders but a leader's popularity or support is strongly linked to party support.
In the most recent poll, this is where the current party leaders and other contenders stood.
And here is how party leaders' support has changed over the last few years.
As well as outright preferences, the RNZ-Reid Research Poll also asks respondents how well the leaders of National and Labour are performing in their roles.
The overall outcome (the difference between respondents who believe a leader is performing well and those who believe they are not performing well) is represented in this chart of net favourability.
We also ask how respondents feel about the overall direction of the country under the current government.
The RNZ-Reid Research poll margins of error (expressed at a 95 percent confidence level) are:
- Percentage result is 10 percent or 90 percent: +/- 1.9 percent
- Percentage result is 20 percent or 80 percent: +/- 2.5 percent
- Percentage result is 30 percent or 70 percent: +/- 2.7 percent
- Percentage result is 40 percent or 60 percent: +/- 3.0 percent
- Percentage result is 50 percent: +/- 3.1 percent
