Political support in Aotearoa New Zealand: crisis or continuity?

Fears of declining political trust and social cohesion have become of increasing concern within the commentariat and the academic community of Aotearoa New Zealand. Placing our analysis in the framework of theories of political support, we discuss political trust, the focus of much of the literature. We also address other related matters of anxiety that include declining support and satisfaction with democracy and an apparently emerging preference for authoritarian leaders. We provide both a theoretical and empirical critique and a complement and corrective to the existing literature and debate. This review and analysis put the concern about political trust and support into a wider context, drawing on data that goes back to the early 1990s. A simple narrative of decline has little support. Recent changes in a negative direction are not without precedent and, so far, short-term.