New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has popped up on a list of figures Brits would like to be their elected Head of State, rating about as high as the current British Labour leader.
Patrick Maguire, editor of The Times' newsletter RedBox, on Wednesday night shared the results of a poll asking Brits to name a living individual they would like to be Britain's elected Head of State.
With the question being open-ended, there was a wide variety of responses, ranging from actors like Judi Dench to former politicians like Tony Blair. Despite being able to pick anyone, roughly a quarter of the 1680 people quizzed still chose a royal.
With the 'don't-know' responses removed, Prince William came in at the top of list with 12 percent of the vote, followed by broadcaster and environmentalist David Attenborough. The Queen was the third-ranked figure.
While the vast majority of responses were British people, down the top-20 list was a Kiwi: Jacinda Ardern.
She received 1 percent of the vote, the same as Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, current British Labour leader Keir Starmer, and controversial television personality Piers Morgan. Her support appears to mostly come from Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters.
It's not the first time Ardern has been ranked among people Brits want as their leader. Way back in August 2019, pollster YouGov asked 2204 Brits which current leader would they like to see become 'World King' or 'World Queen'.
Out of the nine options, Ardern came third behind Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel. She was ahead of Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. However, half of respondents didn't want anyone on the list as their leader.
The new survey results come as the Kensington Royal Instagram account - which spotlights the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - and Irish Foreign Ministry shared a video featuring Ardern wishing the world a special St Patrick's Day.
"Kia Ora, here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we are wishing everyone of Irish heritage a very warm St Patrick's Day. Sending lots of aroha to you from us," Ardern said.
Among others those featured in the video is Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.
