Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Michael Lee: Auckland University marketing expert on National, Christopher Luxon's slipping popularity in the polls

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Michael Lee: Auckland University marketing expert on National, Christopher Luxon's slipping popularity in the polls · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We have a Taxpayer's Union Courier poll yesterday and it
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: showed that the National Party have fallen behind Labor in popularity.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's only half a percent though, but the interesting thing
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in a way was that Chris Hipkins is above Christopher
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Luxen for preferred Prime Minister. So I'm joining now by
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Aukland University Associate Professor of Marketing, Michael Lee. Michael, good
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: morning to you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Mike.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: What's your reading of the PM's communication style, because people
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are saying that he's not cutting through.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I think, I mean, I've heard some of the interviews
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: where you've had a little game of cat and mouse
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: with him, trying to get him to commit to something.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And you know, for the most part, he's pretty good
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: when he knows what he wants to say. But I
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: think what he gets a bit sticky is obviously when
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: he's been pressed for something that he's clearly keen not
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to give a definitive answer for, and then he comes
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: across a little bit evasive sometimes, and I think that's
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: probably what's happening. People think, why don't you just answer
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: the question?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Well, is he too married to bullet points from his prep?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Sorry? What was that?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Is he too married to the bullet points that he's prepared.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that could be a stick to what you want
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to say and don't get pressed into engaging in any
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: conversation that you're not comfortable answering. I think that does
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: come across.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: But you see, the thing is, if you're going to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: say something, you have to say it like you believe it,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and therefore you should be able to say it immediately.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And so what we see is the points
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that he's comfortable talking to, he can be quite decisive
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and comes across quite strong. But then when you catch
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: him on something that he's not clear about or does
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: not want to engage in the conversation, then he becomes
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: very evasive.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And well, that's the difficulty about being the Prime minister.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: You have to be the spokesperson on everything and you
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: have to be across everything. So I would say that
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: there are people in the back benches of the National
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Party who would like to see him polling a bit higher.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: What could he do to improve.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Well, a couple of the things that you've caught him on,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: like the whether or not there is a deal for
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: the fare and whether or not he would sack that
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: chat he could have answered with something like, you know,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: it depends or maybe or I'd have to look into that,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: or there are circumstances that I'm not on top of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: right now that I would have to get back to you.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So there are ways of answering that shows that, look,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: he would like to answer, but he doesn't want to
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: answer in a way that you know, would get him
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: in trouble or the other person in trouble later on.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: So I think there's a reason why he can't answer.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: The issue is that he's just giving you the same
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: response over and over again, and that's getting frustrating for
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: both of you, and obviously the listeners can probably hear
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: that evasiveness going on.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Thank you so much, Mike Lee.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: For more Familily Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
• 2:51
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• 2:55
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