By Mike Bain
The latest One News Verian Research Poll released in October raised just one question and it’s been looming in the background for the past twelve months since the National led coalition government took office.
The electorate having grown tired of the former government’s empty promises, lack of action and the state of the economy, led to a spectacular change in leadership.
Without a clear mandate the centre right parties, National, Act, and New Zealand first agreed for better or worse, to hitch their respective wagons together and form a government to get the country back on track.
Within its first year of governing, led by National’s Christopher Luxon it has achieved at least ninety nine percent of its planned to do list.
The country is now relishing lower inflation figures which will eventually trickle down into the cost of living, despite the surge in unemployment, it has to be noted the numbers moving off the Job Seeker benefit and moving into paid employment.
The coalition governments foundations are being put in place to rebuild our economy to what it once was under the John Key National led government.
However, the television poll showed less optimism and less enthusiasm for this government.
All three parties have struggled to gain traction in the polls, their economic management has failed to grab the electorate as being positive, and the Prime Minister is “out of touch with the electorate.”
The spectre of failure looms as distrust remains rampant, a legacy of the previous government’s ambitions for power.
Former Pime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s statement “we will continue to be your single source of truth,” still rings in many ears.
New Zealand remains suspicious of many entities because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and this could be the driving force behind low polling figures for the government.
The distrust and manipulation from the past still hurt.
Jacinda Ardern was one of the most popular leaders this country has seen, but as the electorate savagely tears her legacy apart, she now appears reluctant to return to New Zealand.
Many questions remain over the results of The One News Verian Research Poll but the big one which has the media in a frenzy is the lack of popularity of the current Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
His popularity is not as high as his predecessors, but the electorate should ask, are we that superficial that all we want is some popular guy leading the country or someone capable of leading a team, who can turn this country around.
Everything comes with a cost, popularity has its cost, and so does, good stable fiscal control of our economy, and there-in lies the question from the poll.
Surely, we can learn from the hard, painful lessons, we have been through, we need strong management of our economy, it will be painful, but it has to be done.
Mike Bain is a veteran broadcaster who founded the organisation Christian Voice New Zealand
