RNZ-Reid Research poll: Most New Zealanders don't think Trump's presidency been good for NZ

RNZ News

2 days ago

United States President Donald Trump.
Photo:
ANNA MONEYMAKER / Getty Images via AFP
Just 8.9 percent of New Zealanders feel the second Donald Trump presidency has been good for New Zealand, according to the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll.
Supporters of every political party in Parliament took a more negative view of the presidency than positive, though there are still many who are neutral on the man in the Oval Office.
On a foreign policy front, Trump's second term has been dominated by the stop-start tariffs, as the US seeks to rebalance what it says has been an uneven trading playing field.
New Zealand has
not been immune from the tariffs
, though whether they are as reciprocal as the White House says has been a source of frustration for the government.
In the latest poll, 1008 respondents were asked:
"US President Donald Trump has recently completed 100 days in office for his second term. How do you think his presidency has been for New Zealand?"
In total, 44.4 percent of voters said the presidency had been bad for New Zealand, while 8.9 percent said it had been good.
However, many do not have a view either way, with 35.8 saying they were neutral, while 10.9 percent said they did not know.
Broken down to party allegiances, the gap between good and bad was even wider for Labour and Green supporters.
Half of Labour voters said it had been bad, compared to 3.3 percent who said it was good.
Almost 59 percent (58.7) of Green voters said bad, 4.8 percent said good.
In April, Trump announced a
10 percent tariff on New Zealand goods
, on top of existing tariffs.
Officials swiftly worked to understand how the tariff was calculated, given New Zealand's rate is 1.9 percent.
The government's response in the meantime has been to keep its head down, saying a trade war is in nobody's best interests.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the Trump presidency had not been good for small trading nations like New Zealand.
"I think an
international trade war between the US and China
is bad for countries like New Zealand."
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
Photo:
RNZ / Reece Baker
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said it was partly why the Greens had put together an industrial strategy.
"To show that with the international headwinds being what they are, and Donald Trump's punitive tariff measures, that we can take steps locally to build our own economic resilience so that we're not relying on international shareholders, which seems to be the strategy of this government," she said.
While 13.6 percent of Te Pati Māori voters said Trump had been good for New Zealanders, those who said he had been bad and those who were neutral were relatively evenly split.
While more supporters of government parties also said the presidency had been bad for New Zealand than good, the gaps were tighter, with many also staying neutral.
Of National voters, 8.4 percent said it had been good, but more were slightly more neutral than negative.
A quarter of ACT supporters were positive, but the remainder were also closely split between bad and neutral.
While more New Zealand First voters said bad than good - 28 percent vs 22 percent - the majority take a neutral view.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
Photo:
RNZ / Mark Papalii
The party is vowing to 'Make New Zealand First Again'.
But leader Winston Peters is also the Foreign Affairs minister - and on this, he's also staying neutral.
"I'm the foreign minister. I don't talk about other countries' politics, particularly when doing so might harm our country's trading interests," he said.
The Prime Minister was also staying diplomatic.
"Look, it's not for me to say. I'm just focused on what New Zealand needs to do to sail its boat in what are more turbulent waters, for sure, to make sure that we can realise all the great potential we have in this country. That's what we're focused on," Christopher Luxon said.
This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 May 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is available
here
.
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