Since there were some spare hours during a trip to Wellington this week I went along to the Freedom Village to ask some questions.
This was not, in any way shape or form, a scientifically conducted rigorous poll. On Monday morning, 21 February, I simply bowled up to random people I met and asked permission to ask two questions:
- Who did you vote for last time?
- Would you vote for them again?
They were young and old, bearded and clean-shaven, men and women, brown and white – just normal people at the Freedom Village. Everyone was pleasant and polite and willing to talk to a random stranger with a pen and notebook.
Later that day I saw a more ‘official’ survey had been conducted breaking down into demographic categories etc so it was interesting to see how my ‘previous vote’ score compared with the proper survey.
Clearly, I missed a few Greens and collected a bunch of NZ First voters that were missed by the professionals. But all told, my sample was pretty close to the professional survey results. Their Advance+Other (15%) was close to my NZF+Other (18%).
Given that my sample appeared to be ‘representative’, how did the result of question 2 pan out? Would you vote for them again? The resounding answer was an emphatic “No!” from most of my survey respondents.
Adding another column, the percentage of lost voters, to the results should be a rather sobering wake up to the politicians.
People have simply lost faith in the system. The major parties have not acquitted themselves well over this whole mandate/loss of choice boondoggle. People feel disenfranchised.
The common refrain from those I spoke to was that all 120 inside the Beehive should get a DCM. (Don’t come Monday.)