Sensible to hide Jacinda

Stuff reports:

During the 2020 general election, you could barely go anywhere without seeing Jacinda Ardern’s face.

The former prime minister’s stock was at its zenith and Labour rode it to the biggest slice of the popular vote in nearly 70 years, and, the power to govern alone.

But less than three years later, her only foray into Labour’s campaign has been a short Instagram post about voting overseas. She hasn’t appeared at all on the campaign trail.

Hiding Jacinda is a very sensible tactic for Labour.

Those who are not Jacinda fans would be turned off Labour even more if she was prominent campaigning for them. Hipkins is not as polarising as Ardern.

Those who are fans of Jacinda would compare Hipkins to her, and be reminded that he is mainly campaigning on ditching many of her policies.

So it is a lose-lose to use her, so a sensible decision by Labour not to do so.