New Zealanders are unfazed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's announcement she is expecting her first child.
Ms Ardern announced last month she and partner Clarke Gayford are expecting a baby in June, and she will take six weeks off around this time.
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About a third of Kiwis think it will positively affect Ms Ardern's performance as leader, according to the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll.
A further 40 percent think there will be no impact on her performance.
Around 20 percent of Kiwis think the pregnancy will have a negative impact on her performance, and National Party supporters have the highest percentage who hold this view.
Mr Gayford will be the baby's full-time caregiver, and while Ms Ardern is away Winston Peters will be the Acting Prime Minister.
Reaction to Ms Ardern's announcement was largely positive in the New Zealand political sphere. It received global media coverage, and she had congratulatory messages from world leaders including Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Not all reactions were positive. The Daily Mail columnist Liz Craig called Ms Ardern's pregnancy a "betrayal of voters" shortly after the news broke.
Ms Ardern responded to the column on the AM Show: "I'd hope that maybe she'd asked a few New Zealand voters before she decided on their behalf," she said.
It turns out the Prime Minister was right on the money. New Zealand voters do not appear to have any problem with the future first baby of New Zealand.
Newshub-Reid Research interviews were conducted using online polling and computer-assisted telephone interviewing. 867 people were interviewed, 671 by phone and 250 online, between Thursday, January 18 and Sunday, January 28.
Data is weighted to ensure a cross-section of representation of age, gender and geography.
The sample error is a maximum of +/-3.3 percent.
Newshub.
