Jacindamania has gripped New Zealand, with the new Labour leader surging in the latest polls after only one week in the job.

Newshub/Reid Research polling showed support for the party had leapt nine points to 33.1 in the week since Jacinda Ardern took over from Andrew Little. Labour’s internal polling company – UMR – reportedly has them on 36 points.

As preferred prime minister, Ardern has added 19.6 points to her predecessor’s score and now sits at 26.3 – or 1.4 points behind prime minister Bill English with more than six weeks to go before the election on 23 September.

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The Labour party has also received close to $500,000 in donations since its unexpected change of leadership, and 3,500 volunteers have signed on to campaign around the country. According to Labour’s general secretary, Andrew Kirton, the majority of them are women.

“The Jacinda effect is the explosion of interest and positive support for the Labour party based on the personality of Jacinda Ardern, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said political commentator Bryce Edwards.

“The Jacinda effect, also known as ‘Jacindamania’, has been looming for a long time because she is a politician who has been a rising star, and someone with a strong X-factor and charismatic personality for a few years now.”

“At this point the Labour party seems to have gone from a grey old party with a lot of doom and gloom about them, to a party of Corbynesque excitement; and similar support,” he said, referring to the unexpectedly strong electoral showing by the UK Labour party in June under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ardern, 37, a sometime DJ who said she’d like New Zealand band Fat Freddy’s Drop to play at parliament if she was elected as PM, has been compared to other “rock-star” politicians around the world, including Justin Trudeau, Tony Blair, former New Zealand prime minister John Key – and even Barack Obama.

Edwards says Ardern has for years been groomed as a likeable politican by frequent appearences in the “soft media” – namely women’s magazines. The party has played up her natural charm and warmth by pairing her as deputy to Little, who was viewed as negative and aloof by the general public.

But Jennifer Lees-Marshment, associate professor of the school of politics and international relations at Auckland University, believes there is depth to Ardern’s success that goes beyond charisma. She has what every politician craves: people trust her.

“What Jacinda has is not just rock-star appeal,” said Lees-Marshment.

“Jacinda, Trudeau, Tony Blair, John Key, even Obama. They have a real ability to connect with people. They speak about the issues people really care about and then they speak about what they can do about it – they’re aspirational. And they are aware of the deep fears and concerns out there – but they are hopeful. They offer positivity to the negativity of problems.”

Much has been made of Ardern’s youth and quick wit. She lives with a television presenter, enjoys single malts, music festivals and cheese and crackers for dinner when she’s rushed, according to her own revelations in the media about her life.

Edwards believes Ardern’s frank political style has echoes of a former Labour leader who regularly gave out her home phone number to journalists and continues to answer the questions of strangers on Twitter – Helen Clark.

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The observation is supported by polls which show Ardern to be the most popular Labour leader since Clark.

“Jacinda has worked with Helen Clark and has clearly been influenced by her; you can see some real similarities there,” says Edwards.

“She has stepped up at a time of crisis for the Labour party, and has been able to become part of the story that she is the savior. She is fresh, she’s dynamic, and she is something new to politics and I think that is incredibly attractive to the public at the moment because politics has mostly been a bit grey in New Zealand for a long time.”



The biggest threat to Jacindamania and New Zealanders getting over their most ardent political crush is Ardern’s lack of experience. Despite becoming a list MP in 2008, she has never been a minister and she has never been part of an elected government.

But, says Lees-Marchment, the same criticism was lobbed at Key, Obama, Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron. And inexperience in public office didn’t stop Donald Trump taking the keys to the White House.

“All these current leaders have faced that criticism ‘Oh you’re too inexperienced’,” says Lees-Marchment.

“But I am not sure that counts with voters so much anymore. In America, Hillary Clinton’s obvious competence and experience did not trump Donald Trump’s celebrity status and ability to connect with a crowd.”

Edwards says within the Labour party Ardern is known for not handling conflict well – that in the past she has backed down when challenged. But he doesn’t see it as an impediment to reviving Labour’s election bid and predicts the continued rise and rise of Ardern, either as PM or an intimidating opposition leader.

Lees-Marchment said it was too early to call the result of the election but said of Ardern: “I don’t think the public are in love on the basis of nothing. I think it’s a love that has built up over a long time. It is a long-term relationship. Any weakness is not so much in her, but in the challenge of her situation.”