The Sunday Panel: Will the latest poll sway our political direction?

This week on the Sunday Panel, Resident Economist at Opes Partners Ed McKnight and TV producer, journalist and commentator Irene Gardiner joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!

The Herald's Poll of Polls came out today, and it shows the minor parties could potentially hold more power this time around. What do we make of this? Do we know which side we want to vote for? What do we want to see from National or Labour?

The Norway v England FIFA World Cup quarter-final took place this morning - what did we think of it? And what did we make of last night's All Blacks v Italy match? Does the TMO have to go?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time for the panel. I'm joined by resident
economists at op's partners, Ed McKnight Morning.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Ed get A Franchisca. Good to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good to have you with us. TV producer, journalist and
commentator Irene Gardner is with us as well. Hi, Irene,
Hi there. Good to have you both with us. Can
we start with the poll of polls which was released
in the Herald today. Of course, this just kind of
takes a look at all the poles out there, gives
us a bit of an idea about where we're sitting,
where all the political parties are sitting, and they're kind
of sitting where we expected them to sit, I thought, Irene,

(00:41):
but it did make me wonder about where whether there
will be a great amount of movement. And I don't
think there's going to be a great amount of movement
in the polls between Labor and National. Maybe around the
minor parties, but it kind of depends on whether people
have made the decision as to who they're going to
vote for. I don't expect you to tell me who
you're going to vote for. But have you already decided

(01:01):
who you're going to vote for?

Speaker 4 (01:04):
I would say that I pop have and that I'm
unlikely to change. But I think there are a few
things that could change things. I think you're right that
it's not so much about the bigger parties as it
is the smaller and that maybe things won't change much.

(01:25):
But I think if the economy somehow managed to significantly improve,
that would help national even though that would largely be
out of their hands because it's very globally driven. I
think if the coalition got really messy and fallier party
that could change things. And I think labor have been

(01:49):
quite low. I think coming out really hard with what
they're going to do in policies, and that might be
strategic and they might be keeping their power dry and
there might be some things there that could change things.
Not sure about that one. Oh yeah, that would be
margin normal.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean, ed, what about you and maybe the people
around you and the people that you're talking to. You
might have more interesting things to talk about than who
you're going to vote for an election. But do you
feel that people are set or they're still making up
their minds?

Speaker 5 (02:20):
Well, Francesco I decided her to vote for fifteen years ago,
and I've never changed since the eighteenth birthday.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I think, you know, you're allowed to wait.

Speaker 5 (02:30):
But the thing is that, like I think a lot
of people, you decide who to vote for not based
on the policies that come out every single year, but
based on the values that each party has. So you
find a party that you think, yeah, that really closely
aligns with the direction I'd like the country to go in,
and I'm just going to keep on voting for them.

(02:50):
What I do think we're going to see some movement
in is people switching their votes between the left and
the right blocks. I've been thinking about this this morning.
Let's say that you're a left wing voter, and you
might look at Labor and be like, oh, I like them,
but they're not far left enough for me. I look
at the Greens, or maybe they're a bit too far left,
but you know what, I'm going to vote for the

(03:11):
Greens because then that means that we've got a bigger
pull or another party pulling Labor over to the left.
And so you might see people switching within the blocks
to try and pull the coalition that comes out within
a certain direction.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, I think the Opportunity Party is also playing a
really interesting role potentially the selection to ED, because I
think a lot of people are looking around going I
don't want to vote for anyone. I don't want to
vote for any of these people. I'm fed up with
all this, you know, and they're looking for another opportunity.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
Well. The funny thing about the Opportunity Party is they
keep saying that they're a centrist party, but I see
them as about as far left as you possibly can
be with the amount of property taxes that they're wanting
to bring out. But I do see it as a
little bit of a protest vote. The big question in
my mind around the Opportunity Party voters, though, is are
they going to turn up to the polls?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
That is true, Well, at least you two know what
you're doing when it comes to beating, so you don't
have to stress about it. You can just ignore everything
for the next three months.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
I can't believe ED has never voted for anyone different
and all the time it seems very consistent.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
Well, when you're right, you're right, Okay, Okay, that's fair
to comment.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
We'll wait and see how that pans out.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
For you.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
I was wondering if we could talk. Of course, I'm
sitting here at the moment. I'm watching Norway playing England
in the quarter final. England's up to one, we're in
extra time. It's all very tense here in the outside,
in the newsroom and things. We often head up to
the var Last night we head to the TMO when
we're watching the All Blacks playing Italy, and you know,
in particular last night I found that really frustrating. It

(04:51):
it felt like we were getting the reef was getting
things right and wrong. Then the TMO is interfering, and
then the game stops and I kind of lost interest
and found myself scrolling on my phone. This morning, Elliot
Smith said to me, tmos need to go out of
every game of sport. He said, just get rid of them,
get back to making a decision on the field, accepting
we're human. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get

(05:12):
it wrong, and just move forward. How would you feel
about that, Ed, if we went back to the old days.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
I'm all about the old school, because I feel like
the refs have had just such a hard time because
every single game they referee one of the loot whatever
the losing side is is going to say that the
ref was biased, right, And so I feel like we've
become so conservative that it's all going to be checked
by the people up in the boxes. But the way

(05:39):
I think about it is I can understand why hardcore
fans want that level of scrutiny over it, but I
think we really need to be targeting the game that
people at people like yourself, Francesca, who are casually interested.
But look, if it drags on too long, we're just
going to go on our phones. That's who the game's
really got to target and get them interested. So I'm
a big fan of getting rid of it.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
What about you, Raan, I know you're a big sports watcher.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Well, yes, I was just gonna say I'm not really.
I do tend to agree that I think old school
might be better on this one, that it might be
better to return to humanity in a better flow of
the game. But having said that, I don't want anything
that makes it any harder for referees, because I appreciate

(06:25):
that the voluntary referees who have been having the trouble
down in Wellington are probably not using fancy technology.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
With that good But I think you said you set
a standard, right, you know, like in rugby you don't
get you get a little bit of talk back to
the reef, but you know that if you go to
you're going to be in trouble. I cannot believe watching
the football, the nonsense the ref's put up with. Have
you been watching any d.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
No, to be honest with your Franchester all, it's all
a bit over behead this football stuff. I mean they
only get a goal once every half hour or so.
I mean, I'd much rather be into basketball with us
scoring every thirty seconds they get.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Do they use video text sut of assistance in basketball.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Or not know we needed the same degree?

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Do they know?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Well there would go such a fast game.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Interesting, Look, I wouldn't thank so much Iren Gardner and
Ed McKnight. Look, I don't mind keeping it, but I
think it needs to be when the reef wants to
call for it. Like if the reef is unsure about
call that they're making on the field, then they can
go to the TMO. But I don't think the team
I should just be able to kind of interfere and
point things out, especially when goals have been scored.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
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