Graham Adams: Going where the media won’t

Behind the coverage of David Seymour’s rise in the polls and Maori Language Week lurk inconvenient truths. Graham Adams argues journalists need to be more even-handed to maintain their credibility.

In the hullaballoo that followed Curia’s poll results last week, the media focused mainly on the startling fact that National’s support had collapsed to 21.3 per cent — with all its dire implications for Judith Collins continuing as the party’s leader.

Predictably, the dismal figures spawned a flurry of articles predicting a palace coup — with the rider that the mutiny could not be immediate because Level 4 lockdown prevented the party’s Auckland MPs flying to Wellington en masse to disembowel their leader in person. A coup conducted over Zoom would have been unseemly and presumably unsatisfying to those consumed with blood lust.

Derek Mackie: Are women more left-wing than men?

The NZ Taxpayers Union has just released an opinion poll they commissioned last week. The Curia poll was taken during the current Covid lockdown and not only tells us how the parties are standing but delves a bit deeper into the voters preferences. 

•  Labour has rebounded to 45.8%, up about 6% from pre-lockdown ratings. This is unsurprising and likely reflects a large proportion of the public’s approval of the virus elimination strategy. 
• ACT are at an all-time high of 14.9%, up another 2% on recent polls. This is probably due to the relatively favourable media coverage that they have enjoyed recently and the lacklustre performance of the National Party. 
• The Greens polled 9.6%, so steady as she goes. 
•  The Maori Party scored 1.2% indicating that, as usual, most Maori don’t want a bar of what they advocate. 
•  NZ First got 2.7% and other small parties collectively polled 4.5%.
•  National are the big losers, attracting only 21.3%, down about 8% on recent polls. Needless to say, this is a terrible result and signals a party which lacks strong leadership and direction, only appealing to its die-hard supporters. 

Based on these results, we would get a Labour-Greens coalition government with 70 seats in parliament - a very comfortable majority. This would allow Labour to progress its He Puapua agenda unchecked and would also lead to more extreme environmental, climate change and social policies from the Greens - the perfect storm, you might say. 

NZCPR Weekly: The Turning Tide of Public Opinion

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter we attribute Labour’s fall in the polls to the extremism of the Maori Caucus and we suggest that for the good of the country the moderates within the party should take back control, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Professor Elizabeth Rata refutes the existence of a Treaty partnership and outlines the strategy being used by Maoridom’s wealthy elite to gain control of the country, and our poll asks whether you accept or reject being categorised by race.

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