Who's the most popular NZ politician on Facebook?

In the first two weeks of campaigning, with three leader's debates and countless Facebook Lives, what's the current social climate when it comes to politics?

Who's the most popular NZ politician on Facebook?
Photo credit: Facebook

New Zealand has approximately 2.9 million Kiwis who are posting about, reacting to, commenting on and sharing on Facebook in the lead-up to the election. 

More than 830,000 people have generated over 7 million interactions about who's going to come out on top - so what are they talking about? 

The Facebook team have been crunching the numbers, and they might surprise you. 

Who's the most popular NZ politician on Facebook?
Photo credit: Facebook

When it comes to the most popular party leader, the award goes to Prime Minister Bill English. 

English leads overall interactions, featuring in over half (51 percent) of election-related conversations, an increase from 44 per cent in August. 

Jacinda Adern comes in at second (43 per cent), also posting an increase since August (37 per cent).

Who's the most popular NZ politician on Facebook?
Photo credit: Facebook

When it comes to discussion of parties, Labour continues to be the most talked about, featuring in 63 per cent of election-related conversations.

They're closely followed by the Greens on 36 per cent, while National sits in third place. 

We've seen some shifts in the election-related topics too. 

Who's the most popular NZ politician on Facebook?
Photo credit: Facebook

Topics related to finance and budget generated the most interactions.

That was closely followed by Social Development topics, which includes mentions of child welfare, unemployment and poverty. 

Topics related to the economy - which includes mentions of jobs and earthquake recovery - were third most popular. 

Overall, there has been a growing volume of election-related posts and more people interacting and reacting to them.

The AM Show's social media presenter Aziz Al-Sa'afin wraps up the biggest findings.

Watch the video for the full interview.