The personalisation of politics – those who support Ardern also support the government’s response, while those who did not feel emotionally close to Ardern do not support the government’s response.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...mes-with-risks
Ardern’s political style rests on her personal appeal, but it has also been criticised as superficial – or, as Bill English put it, “stardust”. Personalisation of politics means that political leaders can nurture emotional closeness with voters across party lines and political ideologies.
The majority of Ardern supporters who also support the National Party (80%), ACT (85.2%), and New Conservatives (85.7%) deemed the government’s response to COVID-19 “successful”.
In stark contrast, among those who did not feel closely connected to Ardern, few supporters of opposition parties gave such positive evaluations (National 37.4%, ACT 27.8%, and New Conservatives 23.5%).
Nonetheless, even among supporters of the opposition parties, people who felt emotionally close to Ardern showed more support for higher tax than those who felt closer to other party leaders.