High marks for Ardern from kids
ANALYSIS: Eight more days to go and Jacinda Ardern headed to Dunedin to remind university students they need to vote.
The Labour leader might be contemplating lowering the voting age after a Mosgiel junior school, consisting mainly of 12-year-olds, said they’d all vote for her if she let them.
While National leader Bill English was cosying up to kittens, Ardern was trying to trigger a youthquake with a visit to Polyfest, Otago University and Taieri College.
She hasn’t strayed far from babies and students on the campaign trail and yesterday was no different.
But with the polls putting Labour well and truly in the race – a stark contrast to two months ago – some would argue, why change a winning formula?
Ardern’s final run will see her travel to New Plymouth, Hamilton, Whanganui, Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch and she says the rhetoric won’t change – ‘‘there’s a real risk with sticking with the status quo is our message,’’ she told media in Dunedin.
There’s not a lot of time for sleep, food or recharging the batteries on the trail. But with eight days to go, Ardern says it’s still about ‘‘rigorous high energy and lots of positivity’’.
She’s well aware the polls are close and the race is probably even tighter – ‘‘turnout is going to matter a lot’’.
Getting the ‘‘early vote message’’ out there is critical.
While the early voter turnout is down compared to this time in 2014, Ardern says it’s not ‘‘comparing apples with apples’’ because there was an extra week of it at the last election.
‘‘The enormous amount of feedback I’m getting, from young people in particular, is that there is a mood for change.’’
So is there a youthquake? ‘‘Only time will tell,’’ she says.
In the meantime, she’s not escaping the hard questions spending so much of her time with students.
Yesterday, Ardern got quizzed on how she found it working with other parties, what triggered the idea for the party’s slogan, her tricks and tips to public speaking, what she would do for schools, and the party’s mental health policy.