The nation is collectively suffering through a potentially fatal malaise, and it appears to be contagious. It’s a debilitating case of rampant disgruntlement.
That’s the term coined by Possum Comitatus today on his Pollytics blog, written in the wake of the latest Newspoll that suggests, rather than the “drubbing” that Rudd anticipated all weekend, it seems voters don’t really care either way.
Dr Comitatus built an aggregate net satisfaction of both leaders and then checked the patients’ charts:
What’s the medical term for worse than flat lining? Because from our reading, the diagnosis is deader than dead.
The Greens aren’t exactly applying the defibrillators to the public’s political pulse either — their vote is considerably softer than the two main parties.
Labor insiders may be worried that voters have stopped listening to Rudd, but the doctor suggests that the voting public have had it with just about everyone.
While the government gears up to sell its NBN win this week, looks like the defining question for Federal Election 2010 will be: what will it take to get people listening again?
Who says they have actually stopped listening though? Bloody pollsters with skewed questions and out right lies.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if optional preferential voting was introduced now. Or if it could be modelled using the polling data. I don’t mean optional voting, just the right to number preferences on the ballot paper only as far as you want, leaving blank those parties/candidates you don’t wish to benefit from your preferences. This may provide further evidence of the extent of voter turn-off. Would the parties try to win back voters, to turn them back on, or just fight over those remaining engaged?