As has been written previously, the change amongst pollsters from preferred Prime Minister ratings to looking at favourability, is starting to seriously hurt Simon Bridges.
Both Newshub and YouGov use this methodology and both polls show Simon Bridges plumbing Corbyn-like depths in the favourability stakes.
The National Party leader’s struggle to rise up the preferred Prime Minister polls is because he is viewed negatively by so many, political commentator Chris Trotter says, citing sources.
“I am told from people that see these things that his negative ratings are off the scale, and that’s the problem,” the left-leaning blogger and author told The AM Show on Monday.
“Sometimes it’s impossible to understand why people like someone or dislike them. [Cunliffe] never clicked. I don’t think Simon has clicked yet. He may do.”
Cunliffe was popular with the Labour Party membership, who elevated the former Cabinet minister to the party leadership in 2013, but didn’t have the same support from his caucus colleagues. He led Labour into the 2014 election, which was a disaster – the party falling to its lowest level of support since the 1920s.
He was replaced by Andrew Little, who also struggled to win over the public. Little made way for Ardern right before the 2017 election, which saw the party’s fortunes reverse almost overnight and catapult them into power.
Comparing Bridges to Cunliffe is just cruel. It’s true but cruel.
At the most recent Newshub-Reid Research poll (October 2019), Bridges was on 6.7 percent as preferred Prime Minister – up 2.5 percent on the previous poll, where he trailed National colleague Judith Collins, but well behind Ardern’s 38.4 percent.
But Bridges’ own low ratings don’t appear to be hurting National like Cunliffe’s hurt Labour. On October’s poll results, National would have 56 seats to Labour’s 54.
Newshub
Voters are supporting National despite Bridges being the leader. They think that National will change leaders this year. When voters realise that Bridges will continue to lead the party into the election then you are going to see some slippage in National’s numbers. Once caucus realises that their leader may cost them their seat then, and only then will you see him knifed.
Until then you can expect to see more polls with Bridges showing dreadful favourability numbers. National’s caucus should be demanding to see Curia‘s own favourability numbers which currently are almost never shown to caucus because they are so appalling.
Meanwhile, Simon Bridges is off to the Philippines to lecture a guy whose popularity in the country is around 80%, on human rights abuses. Most Filipinos think drug dealers and corrupt officials are getting everything they deserve. Having Bridges lecture their popular leader when his own popularity is so dreadful will just stick in their craw. Even worse is the conspicuous silence Bridges exhibited when the little man sat in a big chair in China’s Great Hall of The People while sucking up to China’s head of the secret police. Maybe Bridges thinks he can convince Rodrigo Duterte that his “Strike Force Raptor” is as effective at stopping crime as chucking drug dealers out of helicopters?
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