The Jacinda effect | The Jackal

4 Aug 2017

The Jacinda effect

1 News reporter Corin Dann believes the Jacinda effect will be over by this weekend. I personally think it will remain as long as the new Labour leader is in the public eye.

Jacinda Ardern has all the trademarks of a great leader... She’s articulate, intelligent and highly presentable. However it’s her compassion and policy direction that I think will help Ardern and the Labour party get over the line in the upcoming election.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Toby Manhire: Arden up! Strategies for Jacinda effect

There are 50 days to go, and it's all change. The disco balls shimmer with the light of Jacinda Ardern, the emergency leader of the Labour Party, replacing yeomanlike battler David, or was it John, or was it Andrew.

However desperate the motivation, the Ardern elevation set pulses racing. It is hard to remember the last time the press pack was so palpably smitten.

Actually it's easy to remember. It was last week, when Boris Johnson was in town. But the point is that a grey election campaign has flickered into life. The last-gasp Labour Party has thrown a glow-in-the-dark fidget spinner into the works.

And all the parties are now frantically reappraising campaign strategies. How do they win back the electoral oxygen? Will the feckless youth rise from their slumber? How to counter the coruscating new star?

It’s not just the youth who will more likely support Labour because of Jacinda Ardern, it’s generations X and Y as well.

Bearing the brunt of many negative policy decisions, these generations have the most to gain from having a Labour led government… and they generally vote.

If Jacinda Ardern cannot increase voter turnout and participation in politics I don’t know what will. Increased turnout generally helps the left wing party's, which means this election is still anyone's race.