Was going to mention that, except that with Ardern not even being in the running again, this time the party could not even count on the reminding of the standard-bearer’s leadership credentials and track record during the immediate prior crisis, instead it becomes whether you trust Hipkins’ team with whatever are the current bread-and-butter issues.
I’ll leave it to the actual Kiwis to get down in the weeds over this. Many of us outsiders have to bring ourselves to recognize we are vulnerable to the “oh God why can’t we have someone so UN-TRUMP like that to love!!!” phenomenon.
How is this different from 2020 when National brought in significantly more money than Labour ((Herald article here)?
How did the Greens manage to increase their vote by a greater margin than ACT, despite demonstrably less funds available?
What was the total cost to the CTU of all their third-party attack ads against National?
What was the total cost of the PSA’s ‘election guide’ newsletter (that landed on my desk along with tens of thousands of other people working in government roles)? That’s the one that stresses all the job cuts coming if National gets in.
How many people do you think became motivated enough for change that they actually were willing to pay for it? I’m one of those. After our first exchange, I realised my most effective action was to support a political party that could reach Kiwi voters (rather than a US-centric message board), so I opened my wallet. Money well spent.
I like Ardern and, as an outsider, think she did a reasonable job much of the time. Australians and Kiwis sometimes bristle at comparisons of their countries to Canada, but I think there are often more similarities than differences.
Not least, parties slightly to the left have provided compassion (sometimes too much so?), a little more talk than substance, not really addressed some big economic problems (weak housing policy, thinking overburdened central banks can do much about global inflation after easing and little budget discipline) voters find significant, not always responded effectively to attacks, offer lukewarm reasons to continue support. Parties slightly to the right have better fundraising, some appeal to the antisocial and business and increasingly labour, ideas largely similar and disturbingly vague, sometimes more talking points but less compassion.