10 Reasons Why Simon Bridges Polls so Badly

The polls may or may not be right. People may or may not lie to pollsters. We could all spend eternity arguing about what we think and twisting the poll results to suit our own wishful thinking.

The reality is, if you carefully read the comments that appear so regularly on this site, nobody thinks Bridges has what it takes to lead National to an election win. NOBODY. There are good reasons why people have those feelings. It’s bizarre that when confronted by the numbers, many of us make ridiculous claims about the veracity of them or how people respond to surveys. Deep down we all know that the polls generally reflect what we often very reluctantly know to be true.

Very few people are all good or all bad. It’s a perception and percentage game. Opinions are formed by what is most noticed and remembered.

The Prime Minister manages to stack the percentages in her favour despite her own personal failings and being surrounded by the most inept, incompetent, most ineffective colleagues in the history of this country.

Regardless of the polls though, here are 10 reasons why I think Simon Bridges doesn’t cut the mustard with the electorate

1. He looks young, barely out of school – the perception of immaturity is high
2. When speaking he lacks credibility and authority
3. His voice is not deep and authoritative – it’s light and he often sounds whiny
4. He has poor diction and pronunciation which further reduces the perception of maturity and credibility. While he does sound like a large proportion of the electorate, they can tell he’s not one of them and he doesn’t sound like a leader either
5. He always looks as though he’s trying way too hard which makes him appear insincere
6. He is incongruent – body language and vocal tone too often don’t match the words he’s saying
7. He seldom laughs, smiles or is warm and engaging – when he does laugh it appears forced rather than relaxed and natural or comfortable
8. His political thermometer is confused – the subjects he chooses as issues too often don’t resonate with the electorate
9. Even when making a strong point, he delivers it in the same monotone as everything else he says so the point is too often lost. He uses far too many words – the strong elements, when there are any, are lost in the padding
10. He doesn’t accept and deal with personal criticism well. He tries to look strong and decisive. It has the opposite effect

You could argue that both John Key and Jacinda Ardern massacre the language and have dreadful diction. It’s true, they do. But they make up for it in other ways. Smiles, body language, tonality, facial expressions. They are warm and engaging even when we don’t like the words or them personally. Yes, sometimes it might look less than sincere, but political spin is all about percentages.

If only Bridges could say something like this: “Yes, the poll results are dreadful and yes, you’d expect some dissension in the ranks with such dreadful numbers. However, we’re on track with some new and exciting policies which we’ll be releasing soon and as the furore of Covid fades and we start having to deal with the economic fallout, I’m sure the voters will see that we have some really powerful alternatives. That’s how democracy works and everybody gets a free choice.”

Contrast that with what was reported in the Herald:

“National leader Simon Bridges is toughing out one of his party’s worst poll results, saying it’s not a surprising outcome at a time of crisis and he believes his leadership is safe.”

If he believes his leadership is safe, he is in total denial – but that’s why we find him so hard to warm to. He doesn’t face or deal with reality.