KEY POINTS:
Voters are not convinced that New Zealand needs a closer relationship with the United States, a Herald-DigiPoll survey suggests.
Asked if the Government should work on having a closer relationship with the US, only four out of 10 respondents said yes, and 50.4 per cent said no.
The question was posed when it became apparent that Prime Minister Helen Clark was expecting the White House to invite her to meet President George W. Bush - her second visit in seven years.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters made improving relations with the US one of his priorities as Foreign Minister and puts great store by his good relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
He also used his state of the nation speech in Orewa to castigate what he considered America bashing by some New Zealanders.
Responding to the poll, Helen Clark said through a spokeswoman: "In the words of the former US Secretary of State [Colin Powell], New Zealand and the US share a very, very, very close relationship, and both sides work to keep it that way."
Mr Peters suggested there was always room for improvement, but with every country. "There are few countries in the world where New Zealand would not do better by having a better relationship."
A US Embassy statement said: "New Zealand and the US already enjoy a close, dynamic relationship and the US Government is always eager to explore ways to enhance that co-operation."
National foreign affairs spokesman Murray McCully said that 50 per cent not wanting more effort on closer relations was surprisingly high but reflected "a level of anxiety at current world events".
Helen Clark's first visit to Washington was in March 2002.
She fell out of favour the following year after suggesting that the US war with Iraq would never have happened if Democrat Al Gore had been in the White House.
Yesterday in Parliament, she spent 20 minutes defending comments by Mr Peters the previous day about how Iraq would be in total chaos if the Americans withdrew.
Helen Clark and Mr Peters both stuck to the line yesterday that he was merely offering his personal opinion.
