A ‘political nerd’ who is considering switching from National to NZ First

He’d get ‘Winny P’ tattooed on him, just don’t ask where.

Name: Ethan Johnston.

Age: 21.

Occupation: I run the Rip Curl shop here at Commercial Bay.

Living situation: I've just moved into my first apartment in Albany. I’m lucky with the easy bus route up to Albany.

Electorate: East Coast Bays.

Who will you vote for? Definitely Erica Stanford for my electorate first. For the party, I’m not quite sure between New Zealand First or National this election. I was a National voter last election. But just contemplating who's the best to keep the economy in line and the cost of living.

What attracts you to New Zealand First? I think Winston Peters’ history on keeping governments in control is really crucial because we’re in a period of uncertainty and I think the last thing we need is a government that’s not in control. I look at the left bloc and I’m a bit worried that maybe there’s too many ideologies going on around one table. So I definitely would prefer a right-bloc government. But it’s just about whether I reward National on the last three years of getting there slowly or Winston on keeping it stable.

How happy have you been with the government’s performance over the last three years? Oh, I definitely think happy would probably not be the correct terminology. I think progress, unfortunately, is really slow. And maybe a lot of Kiwis aren’t happy with that. But I definitely think I would agree with the statement that if we give this government up, we could be taking too many steps backwards.

When do you think you'll decide which way you’ll go? Well, we've got the leaders' debate, so definitely will be watching that [The Spinoff spoke to Ethan yesterday]. But once early voting starts, I'll go in and make my decision.

Given you were thinking about choosing between NZ First and National, do you ever wish you'd be able to see them on an election debate together? Minor parties are becoming a big influence on elections, but I still probably wouldn't like to see minor parties with the two major leaders because ultimately it's the two main leaders that are going to be controlling the government. But I definitely think it would be good to see some sort of debate where they are all together.

Do you talk politics at home or with your flatmates? A bit too much. I'm a bit of a political nerd. 

Describe New Zealand in three words: Clean. Growing. Optimistic.

If you had to get the face of a politician tattooed on you, who would you get? Oh, it’s got to be Winnie P, right? Got to be him. Just don't ask me where. 

Will you vote on election day or before? Before. Once early voting starts, I'll be first in line.

What are you going to do on election night? Taking the day off work and I’m going to make sure that I'm at home in front of the telly watching the results come in. I think it's going to be an interesting election, because we don’t know how it’s going to go. And I don’t think we’re going to know for a while. I think it's going to be a 2017 repeat, but maybe not with New Zealand First being the kingmakers, but Opportunity. But I definitely think it would be interesting to see those close marginal seats coming in. Especially the Māori seats where we have Te Tai Tonga and Te Tai Tokerau. It’ll be interesting to see where that goes. 

As told to Henry Oliver