Facebook data shows Judith Collins most popular National leader

Judith Collins, who took over the reins of the National Party after Todd Muller stepped down a week ago, is the most popular out of the past three National leaders - at least according to Facebook data.

The announcement of Collins as the new head of the party last week dominated the news cycle for hours after it was made and, judging by the data, she's an improvement over the last two leaders, at least on Facebook.

Wellington-based company Aro Digital looked at the number of positive, neutral and negative comments on the National Party's Facebook page after the announcement of each leader's appointment for Simon Bridges, Todd Muller and Judith Collins.

National leader Judith Collins announcing her caucus reshuffle at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It measured the sentiment based on the comments each post received.

Bridges' post on February 27, 2018, received 26.1 per cent negative sentiment, 33.2 per cent neutral and 40.7 per cent positive.

Muller's post on May 22 this year was 20.7 per cent negative, 23.4 per cent neutral and 55.9 per cent positive.

The announcement post for Collins was made on July 14, last week. By 5pm on July 16, it had a comment sentiment of 12.9 per cent negative, 20.3 per cent neutral and 65.8 per cent positive.

It seems Google has been a bit slower on the uptake, though, as a search for "National Party leader" on Monday, July 20, still points to Muller, despite the Wikipedia entry it refers to having been updated with a photo of Collins.

Screenshot from Google search on July 20, 2020. Photo / Google