Politics / Media & Technology

Second leaders debate: How social media reacted

22:51 pm on 4 September 2017

The second leaders' debate between Bill English and Jacinda Ardern fired up plenty of people on social media. RNZ rounds up the best reactions.

Jacinda Ardern and Bill English talk after the second leaders' debate. Photo: Supplied / Michael Bradley

Ms Ardern and Mr English went head to head tonight on the second leaders debate, a lively and fast paced affair moderated by TV3's Patrick Gower and watched by a live audience of "undecided voters".

A range of topics were covered - from lying politicians, cannabis and abortion law reform, to child poverty, homelessness and Donald Trump.

At home, New Zealanders took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the performance of both the politicians.

Members of the audience of "undecided voters" also got some attention:

There were a few stumbles from Mr English - including a mispronunciation of "gender gap":

But his eyes shone in his area of expertise.

While Ms Ardern ventured into National territory with some of her rhetoric:

Across the political spectrum, feelings were mixed about who performed better overall, with National's Simon Bridges - unsurprisingly - questioning Ms Ardern's performance:

The debate ended with a series of quick-fire questions covering topics including who they would knight, Pike River re-entry, and abortion and cannabis law reform.

Ms Ardern and Mr English were both asked what they would march in the streets for:

See how the debate developed with RNZ's live blog here.