Ardern’s legacy in ruins

NZ public calls her COVID leadership ‘awful’

Today, Stuff published an emotional opinion piece by Sir Ian Taylor, dramatically titled “Dear Jacinda, this is the most difficult letter I have written to you.” While the content of Taylor’s letter may tug on a few heartstrings, the real story was found further down the page, in the poll quietly embedded beneath the article.

The question was simple and direct:
“Rate Jacinda Ardern’s leadership during the Covid pandemic.”

The options were:

• Great in parts

• Excellent

• Awful

• Lacking in areas

• Average

Over 49,000 people responded, and the results speak for themselves. A clear majority of 43 percent rated her leadership as awful. That isn’t a fringe opinion, it’s a roar from a public that still feels bruised and betrayed. This wasn't a close result or a statistical fluke. This was a damning indictment of a Prime Minister whose pandemic policies were dressed up as compassion while they inflicted real, lasting damage. Her decisions are the reasons why people are dead.

What’s disturbing is that 32 percent still rated her leadership as excellent. That number says more about the power of media spin and celebrity-style politics than it does about actual governance. Under Ardern’s rule, people were locked out of their own country and left begging for a spot in the MIQ lottery. Families couldn’t bury their loved ones. People lost their jobs over vaccine mandates. Mental health collapsed. Small businesses were suffocated while big corporations were padded with government cheques.

Ardern didn’t lead with grace. She ruled with a clenched fist, wrapped in the velvet glove of paid PR fluff and fake kindness. “Be kind” became a mantra used to silence dissent. Anyone who dared question her was branded a conspiracy theorist or worse. It was not leadership. It was control, and it came with a horse-tooth smile so it fooled the international press.

Now, she's reportedly back in New Zealand. You’d think after being away and collecting awards for her “service,” she might front up and listen to those she hurt. Instead, social media has lit up with people calling for accountability. They haven’t forgotten being told they couldn't visit dying family members, or the emotional toll of being isolated for months on end while the government patted itself on the back.

Last month I ran my own poll on X. The question was blunt:
“Who would you rather have over for dinner, Jacinda Ardern or Adolf Hitler?”

The result was shocking to some, but not to those who lived through her decisions. A majority of respondents said they would rather dine with Hitler. It was a disturbing outcome, but one that reflects how intensely people resent her legacy. To many, Ardern didn’t just make hard calls. She made cold ones. And she showed no real remorse for the suffering that followed.

She is in my opinion, the most hated New Zealander of all time.

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