An article on a Stuff web page, written by Laura Walters and published last night, shows some interesting contrasts. It’s a report on the protest last night by the Auckland Action Against Poverty, outside the Young Nats ball. Some extracts, highlighting the socio-economic divisions in NZ:
Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) held a block party outside the Young Nationals ball at the Rendezvous Grand Hotel in Auckland this evening in protest to the treatment of New Zealand’s poor.
[…]
Bennett was MC for the ball for the youth political organisation.
Activist and former MP Sue Bradford led the anti-National chants at the protest.
Bradford said the Government was intimidating the poor.
“We’re letting the Young Nats, Paula Bennett and John Key know how we feel about what they are doing for beneficiaries.”
[…]
AAAP spokeswoman Nadia Abu-Shanab said the objective of the party was to show National’s policies did affect people.
The AAAP event included live music from Auckland and Wellington bands.
Abu-Shanab said tickets to the ball cost $100.
“The sad fact is, that’s more than many of us in New Zealand have left after paying rent and power. This is the harsh reality of being a low-paid worker or beneficiary living under National.”
Next to the article is a very slanted poll. The question implies various contestable assumptions. The question:
Can Labour turn its poll results around?
Yes
No
VOTE
Related story: Cunliffe upbeat despite sliding polls
The linked article is from 2 April 2014, and doesn’t cite the latest Roy Morgan Poll.
The placement next to the AAAP protest about income inequalities, also could influence people’s understanding of the poll: i.e. that the election is to be understood in First Past the Post terms, and that the election is more about personality politics and the “horse race” than about issues, policies and values important to the lives of all Kiwis.
Add to this, the report of Steven Joyce’s cynical take on the polls, as quoted by micky savage this morning on Open Mike:
In the 2011 election I think there were quite a few people that thought, certainly erroneously, because of the nature of the polls the election was a foregone conclusion.”
The election shouldn’t be about poll watching. And for the Left especially, it should be about communicating directly with voters about issues that affect their lives now and in the future.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress