We've got issues

This government ain't fixing them, and the alternative looks more appealing.

'Cause I got issues, but you got 'em too
So give 'em all to me, and I'll give mine to you
Bask in the glory of all our problems
'Cause we got the kind of love it takes to solve 'em
Yeah, I got issues
And one of them is how bad I need ya

Songwriters: Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter.

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I had a quick scan of the headlines this morning, and this one from Thomas Coughlan in the NZ Herald caught my attention:

So that sounds quite good on both counts. Although, to be honest, the poll is a bit all over the place, and when you look into what people think, it’s actually quite depressing - they don’t seem very well informed.

Don’t get me wrong; this is a free country. People are perfectly entitled to remain poorly informed if they choose, and based on these numbers, many are opting for ignorance rather than some sort of drastic alternative—like learning. The problem, the reason this is depressing, is that those people then vote.

Thomas says the government received a performance rating of 4.7, the highest since they’ve been in power, and it was up from 4.5 in August. He doesn’t say what the scale is, which is quite important. I mean, if it’s out of five, then clearly people think we’re right back on track; if it’s out of 100 - well, considering how well I think they’re doing, 4.7 seems quite a generous rating.

The most interesting point is the shift in what people consider to be the most important issues. This indicates whether the public thinks something is going well or is becoming more of a problem.

The usual suspects have remained unchanged over the last five polls, going back to September 2023, just before the election.

Inflation has become less of a concern. The one upside of the coalition’s austerity programme is that it tanks the economy, thereby reducing inflation, and the Reserve Bank has done some good work despite what appears to be increasing pressure from the coalition on the bank not to act as independently as it’s supposed to.

The cost of housing and the economy's performance remains largely unchanged, bouncing around within the margin of error. The two big shifts are in Crime and Healthcare.

Despite the fact that recent reports from the Ministry of Justice show increases in theft, burglary, robbery, and youth crime. Ignoring the ongoing high number of headlines with horrific violent crimes. It seems people don’t see law and order as being as big an issue as before the election.

At that time, 37% indicated it was a top issue, placing it second, whereas now, just 27% do, and it has moved down to 5th place on their list of concerns.

So, if crime hasn’t gone down, why are people not so concerned about it as before the election? Could it be because they’re not being spammed with this sort of dishonest garbage any more?

A New Zealand National Party ad using an AI-generated woman. Photograph: NZ National Party

Amazing eh? Stop telling people that someone is about to come through the window and murder them in their own home, and they’re not so concerned any more. That’s much cheaper and easier than actually increasing police numbers or reducing the number of crimes.