pn818. Polls, not much change but BEWARE ACT, WAKE UP Greens

David Seymour as Prince
Charming

Two political poll results were published last week, the first conducted by 1News Colmar Brunton (see pn812), the most recent by Newshub-Reid (this posting.)  Both follow on from earlier polls by Curia and Talbot Mills reported in my posting pn809.

All four main polls showed similar results:  Labour is down a little or unchanged, National and Greens up or down a little but no real change, and ACT, the real winner, is steady or with significantly increased support.  

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Come election time next year Labour, or possibly National, will become the next government but Labour may need coalition support from the poorly performing Greens. National will definitely need ACT.

A further poll released today conducted by Colmar Brunton for Jack Tame's TV's Q&A programme asked about people's expectations of Labour. 

Of all those polled 14% said Labour had exceeded expectations, while for those who had voted Labour it was 21%. 

While Labour would be reasonably pleased that 55% of voters, and 75% of those who had voted Labour, thought the government had exceeded or were in line with expectations, a worrying 22% of Labour voters thought it had done worse. That's  one in five.

With news and public attention focused on Covid, little mention has been made of other political news. There appears, however,  to have been a shift to the far right with ACT benefitting from losses by the other parties.

Pretty faces  😎 😀 😏 😒

Public attention has been focussed on the TV appearances of party leaders in which Jacinda is a somewhat jaded fairy queen, Judith a scheming witch, David a quietly modest Prince Charming— and James and Marama have yet to be seen.

Martyn Bradbury in The Daily Blog brings us back to reality. Read all here.

He writes: 

"Jacinda + Labour – They have saved NZ from mass hospitalizations and death so what do they get for their tireless Covid performance? A never-ending hatefest of toxic bile vomited upon them from Maori & Woke claiming their response is a racist genocide to Death Cult Capitalists screaming Jacinda is a coward for not killing her citizens for the economy.

"On top of that are religious nutters who think Jacinda is the antiChrist, Qanon lunatics who think she is Nazi Germany and Crystal Karen who thinks she’s raping Gaia.

"Yet DESPITE all that, Labour are STILL at 42.7%. This tells us that despite all the bitching and complaining, the middle holds for Labour. Voters have decided that Labour’s flaws are still far preferable than National or ACT’s promises."

On Judith Collins he writes:  "Now you might argue that Judith is a loser in these results, but she’s not! Judith has cemented a loyalty from her Caucus by promoting the most incompetent clowns. ... Judith loves power more than a Great White Shark loves blood. Any hope she will leave voluntarily is as misplaced as believing Trump will stand for the Democrats in 2024."

On David Seymour and ACT: "They are seen as the right wing values party and Seymour’s continued performance is out-dazzling Judith’s attempt to take reactionary votes off him. Their rise to 16% masks a radical right polarization of politics not seen before in NZ politics."

 Forget Prince Charming he says. 

"Let us remind ourselves of ACT policies: 

• Cut and freeze the Minimum wage
• Interest back on all student loans
• No Kiwsaver subsidy
• Cancel winter energy payment
• Dump all climate crisis legislation
• No more best start payments for families with newborns
• Cut welfare payments
• No tax credits for research and development
• Cuts to working for families
• $7b a year cut in public services
• Abolish Maori seats
• Abolish Human Rights Commission

…THAT (he says referring to the Newsbub-Reid ACT result)  is getting 16%!"

On the Greens: "They have lost their third largest political party standings to ACT who are now twice their size. How can the Greens be so hopeless and alienating with their middle class identity politics? Will there be any white males voting for them who aren’t gelded and dating in Wellington? Chloe as leader is their only hope for political relevance. The Greens are that vegan app you downloaded in 2016 and never used."

On the Maori Party:  "Calling the vaccine roll out a ‘modern genocide’ and comparing it to the Squid Games would be punished if it were any other Party, amazingly it’s been rewarded in this poll because radicalizing AntiVaxxers with such emotionally manipulative language is ok...."

My take

What ACT is really about is the message that National— and the centre-left— should be getting out to the public.  Prince Charming is not all that he seems. 

The Greens need a major shakeup in their leadership and message. Perhaps it needs a full-time professional lobbyist.

Labour needs to act more on economic issues and the nation's inequalities.

National needs to end its leadership issue promptly and then get out there with its policies. 

-- ACW

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