Nicholas Sheppard

‘Jacinda mania’ is over

Jacinda Ardern, once the golden girl of New Zealand politics, is in trouble. The country’s main opposition party, National, is edging ahead of the prime minister’s Labour government in the polls for the first time in two years, having opened up a two point lead. And while Adern is still the favoured pick to be PM her personal ratings have tumbled sharply: dipping down to 34 per cent from 58 per cent at the end of 2020. Is time up for Ardern?

When she won re-election in a landslide in October 2020, Ardern’s handling of the pandemic in the months before was generally credited as the reason why. Ardern’s ‘we go hard and we go early’ strategy was undoubtedly a success in the early days of the pandemic: New Zealand was one of the best countries in the world at fighting Covid-19. The response led to acclaim on the world stage and a massive surge in national solidarity and support for the government.

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