Recent Posts

K-Rudd is in with the cool kids.

We all (if we're Australian and have any interest in politics) know that Kevin Rudd & the Australian Labor Party (ALP) blitzed the 2007 election, defeating John Howard and the Liberal Party (LIB) by quite a bit.

Since that November day, Kevin Rudd's popularity and approval ratings have continued to ascend higher and higher. According to to studies conducted by The Australian, Kevin Rudd is the most popular Prime Minister that Australia's ever had.

So the underlying question begs to be asked. Why is Kevin Rudd so popular?
Is it because he's not John Howard? Perhaps it's his ability to hire marketing teams that create catchy slogans (Kevin 07)? Or is it because he has MySpace, Facebook and Twitter? What's his secret in making a super nerdy guy cool and popular?

For me, I like Kevin Rudd for a few reasons.
I agree with a lot of his policies (which I won't go into for not wanting to start a hectic debate)
I also think he's 'human'. Examples such as the NY Strip Club incident in 2003, his formulation of random words and phrases/soundbites; "Political shitstorm", "Out the back door", "Working Families", "Fair shake of the sauce bottle" etc etc, and almost any episode of The Chaser's War on Everything (and also the infamous ear wax eating in Parliament) show that he can laugh at himself, have a joke about things and not be so stern, anti social and concrete faced.. Unlike a previous PM who shall remain nameless.

And one more thing that I consider very, very important...............he doesn't wear a Wallaby tracksuit.

Let me know what you guys think, why is Kevin Rudd so popular?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Initially, I think a lot of his popularity was rooted in the fact that he was providing simply a change for the country. By 2007, the majority were sick of Howard and jumped on the Rudd bandwagon (I dare to think what it would have been like if Beazley was still the leader.)

I agree with a lot of his policies too, and I think he's appealed to the younger generations more than Howard did. I agree with the 'human' tag, I do think that although he has made his mistakes; he's made no qualms in admitting to them.

Alex said...

Thanks for your comments, Anonymous ;)

I am really curious to know who you are now!

Anonymous said...

Well I'm not much into politica but the major contending party, the liberals were in disarray for a while there, and rudd was the 1st labour leader in a fair while who could do anything that resembled leading

Kez said...

I think for me initially, it was because he's not John Howard!!!
That election was the first one where I actually wanted to vote for a major party.
GET HOWARD OUT!

So anyway, since then he has certainly been human. He has showed he is not out of touch with today's youth but understands the issues of families and older citizens of Australia. I think that's a big part of what people want. To be related to and know they're being considered.
No party or PM will do a perfect job but I think he's done a lot of good things.

Adele said...

He has done some good things for the country, and has certainly made some difficult decisions in a fairly crazy economic climate. I admire his hard work and obvious dedication. He has also made some terrifying moves which threaten our civil liberties and the idea of Australia as a 'free nation'. Internet filtering? BAD idea. In fact, I am wearing my 'Kevin 84 - Say no to Internet censorship' t-shirt as I type!
I can't help but wish that Australia would cease being so caught up in a two party system and consider some other options, such as the Greens. We are certainly becoming more open minded as a nation and a bit more forward thinking in many ways, and I hope this grows and continues so that one day I can see a party other than Labor or Liberal in power.

amanda said...

ugh i hate krudd. it's slightly irrational, but he just bugs me. i think most australian politicians all have their good & bad bits and for me personally there aren't really any that are better or worse than the others, policy-wise. that being said, unlike a lot of people my age, i am a liberal. i honestly don't really think there's much of a difference between labor & liberal- not to the extent that there is between the republicans & the democrats, for example.
i will admit that i'm a john howard fan, & to be honest, i don't need to be able to relate to my prime minister- he's there to do a job & that's what i want him to do, not be an "average bloke". i wouldn't WANT the average bloke running the country!
watching the queen tonight definitely solidified my thoughts on that sort of stuff, it's such a fascinating movie.

. said...

he listens to the majority of australians.
and he goes on Rove :)

Alex said...

That's fair enough, Amanda.

Haha, I also started watching The Queen last night on television. I've seen it before though and it was so brilliant. I didn't watch all of it last night because it makes me sad watching Princess Diana :(

herecomesthesun said...

Hi hun!
Oh i hope i have readers from Sweden! Where did you look that showed you that you had readers from there?

Alex said...

I had to install Google Analytics onto my blog page because silly Blogger doesn't have inbuilt site statistics.

Analytics is good though because it gives an overview of pretty much everything and you can even see what city your readers access your page from. It's really cool and interesting!

Death Wears Diamond Jewellery said...

kevin rudd is popular???!