pn843. Returning to the Flock: Latest Poll Results: Updated

Christopher Luxon

A new leader for National has seen the shift from National to Act reverse and National's best polling for some time.  The latest 1News Kantar * Political Poll has also seen a consequent small drop in support for Labour. The results of the poll of 1,000 —50% by random cellphone calls and 50% by an "online panel"— are shown in the tables below.  The poll was  taken between 22nd and 26th of this month. Results  were weighted for age, gender, region, education level and ethnicity to reflect national proportions.  The figures are rounded and do not equal 100 percent.

The party results are not surprising. Declining popularity over time is common for most governments. The pandemic has not helped for while most people think it has been well handled by Labour, it has created uncertainty and adversely affected many livelihoods. The insiduous, constant barrage of negative anti-Labour media comment is also clearly having its effect.  The trend is downwards from around  50% a year ago, but the recent 1% drop is hardly significant.  National is where it was a year ago, and Act and the Greens are better placed.  See Kantar table below: 

NZ Aotearoa snippets (pn699)

NOTE the new bird, a korimako/bellbird in the heading.

Michael Bassett

The NZ Herald and Northland Age  had to withdraw an article written by ex LP MP Michael Bassett who thinks we are being Māori-fried.  He wrote:

• The use of Aotearoa only recent, despite evidence it was used in the 1840s and before, and use of New Zealand is much more recent. 
• He selects 1860 the Māori population of Auckland Tāmaki Makarau as only 800 and  fails to mention why. mainly government's claim that Ngāti Whātua were in rebellion and they to the Waikato. The population in 1840 and 1880 was much higher.
• He wants schools to celebrate the “more developed culture” that Britain supposedly brought to the South Pacific, and fails to mention most fled from poverty and oppression..

Recent Examples of Media Anti-Labour Coalition Bias

It is vital for a healthy democracy that the media keep the public properly informed. If you wonder whether this is the case in New Zealand, you may also care to ponder the political bias of our media which seems to be telling us this government is getting everything wrong.  Not once or twice, but over and over again.  Just look at the online print media headings over the past few days:

From the NZ Herald, one of NZME's media stable that reaches 3.2 million readers and viewers daily. NZME is largely Australian owned. Here's a list of its news, sports and entertainment profile.

Going Without Necessities: Poverty in the Land of the Long White Cloud

pn344

The first thing to go in households struggling for money are trips to the dentist. The second is spending on clothes and shoes. Next, families cut back on meat, perhaps buying cheaper cuts, and less of it. Local trips also go out the window after that, with families' participation in the community falling away.

Hosking and Slater Spoilt the Party

  Aotearoa      pn261

A 2017 Colmar Brunton poll showed that 31% of New Zealanders thought Government should not attend the Waitangi Celebrations.

If you believe, having watched this year's Waitangi Day celebrations, that racism and tolerance  are on the way out in the Land of the Long White Cloud, unfortunately you need to think again.  

Do you need a business degree to run a government?

Pn37

Right wing blogger Cameron ("WhaleOil") Cameron is sometimes not very polite. But recently, very politely, he asked who in Parliament could run a major corporation or have a senior management role, implying that none had the qualifications or experience, before concluding "If you recruit monkeys, you get peanuts." 

That's the old argument that you need a business or economics degree to be in "the real world" or run government. 

He forgets -- and would also probably dismiss-- the Departmental bureaucrats who advise ministers. 

Or that Teresa May majored in Geography, Malcolm Turnbull in Law, Angela Merkel in Science, Helen Clark in Politics, Jenny Shipley in Education (she was also on several company boards) and Bill English in Literature. 

It's true John Key has a degree in Commerce and Donald Trump in Economics. But I'm not sure if that did anything special for NZ and it's abundantly clear what it did for America! 

Hold your hat, Whaleoil. One day corporations will welcome Bridges (Law) and Ardern (Communication Studies and Public Relations)  to their Boards -- if they stay around long enough.  

Keep well.

#NZPolitics @simonbridges @jacindaardern @CrozWalsh
@whaleoil