Monday, November 7, 2011

Voters overwhelmed by issues: expert

Voters overwhelmed by issues: expert

Politically minded people are making the push to get a healthy voter turn-out today, but University of Saskatchewan political studies professor Joe Garcea doesn't think everyone will focus on what matters.

"In many cases they actually forget the issues, especially if there are too many of them."

Interesting that a political science professor would think that there are too many issues. This would speak to a lack of cohesion and coherence on the part of the NDP, and ultimately a bad campaign.

See, for the Saskatchewan Party, their job was simple - they had a massive lead and all they had to do was play defense. Don't give your opponent any more headlines than they create for themselves, and don't prolong your opponent's talking points if you can help it. In this, they did a good job, while keeping to their own narrative of framing the election as the Frugals vs the Spendthrifts. In that narrative, the NDP played right into their hands, promising everything under the sun in every sector of the province, all on the back of a single "review" of potash royalties (how can it be a review when the outcome is predetermined?).

For the NDP's point of view, Mr. Garcea is absolutely right. There were too many issues, and none gained traction. They demonized the potash industry. They demonized landlords. They promised money and tax breaks for everyone and everything. With so many different pellets in their scattergun, it's surprising that none actually hit the mark. But the problem is that with so many shots, most of them were played out before the election even began. Nothing announced in the last 28 days could reasonably be called a surprise, and given their tactic of positive advertising for themselves, and letting the unions to do their negative advertising for them, it's no surprise that nothing gained traction.

In the end, the sun will shine tomorrow, the NDP will end up with a few less seats (I'm predicting 40-18 SK Party), and business will have 4 more years to develop in this province of wide open skies and endless opportunity.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds to me like he's looking down his nose at the little people. It is we, the common citizen, that define what the issues are, and how many are important, not some A-hole sitting in an ivory tower.

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