Mike's Minute: Has the political divide gotten worse?

I cannot recommend a piece of reading enough in the Listener, and reproduced elsewhere, on a longitudinal study that now spans 35 years and 12 elections. 

It's gripping. 

A couple thousand people each election are given dozens of questions. 

Its weakness is some of the questions are vague enough to throw up responses around things like health care and public services. We like them and we want more, no surprises there. But how much more? What if the money is wasted? 

We don’t get to know that stuff. 

The David Lange Government of 1984 blew it big time, went way too far and upset too many people. I remember it well. 

We love strong leaders. We are more socially conservative than you might think. 

The electoral system doesn't represent what we actually want, or like. We like the death penalty, yet we've never had it. 

There are two highlights for me: Labour's moves around Māori and introducing Treaty of Waitangi principles into some legislation. 

The majority of us, decades ago, didn’t want it. We don’t have the 2023 results yet, but I bet you nothing has changed. 

Which I would have thought would lead you to ask, why hasn’t it been fixed? 

It's a bad idea that's been allowed to fester and cause ongoing angst and upset for decades. 

Secondly, there are signs of increasing dissatisfaction, concern and unhappiness. The authors say it's not like the 90's. 

I remember the 90's. It was Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley. It was welfare reform, the mother of all Budgets, the burning of effigies on Parliament grounds. You can see the edginess these days with similar discourse and protest. 

But it's suggested political polarisation has declined over the past decade. 

Really? Do you believe that? 

I don’t. I don’t think we have ever been more divided and never been more stark in our views of the country and the world. 

Social media, distrust, fake news, polarising views and stands – I have no idea how they've concluded this. Read it and see if you disagree.  

But on most stuff, we haven't changed. The times change, the circumstances change but, broadly, we don’t. 

I'm not sure if that’s good or bad. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tell you what. I cannot recommend a piece of reading
in the listener, and it's been reproduced elsewhere on a
longitudinal study that now spans thirty five years and twelve elections.
I cannot recommend this enough. It is gripping. Couple of
thousand people each election are given dozens and dozens of questions.
Now its weakness is some of those questions are a
bit vague, and they throw up the sort of responses

(00:20):
around things like healthcare and public services that you would expect.
Turns out, we like them, we want more of them,
but I mean, how much more? What of the money
is wasted? We don't get to know that sort of stuff.
But a history for you. The long e government of
nineteen eighty four blew at big time. According to us,
went way too far, upset too many people. I remember
it well. We love strong leaders. We are more socially

(00:40):
conservative than you might think. The electoral system doesn't represent
what we actually want or like. Turns out, the majority
of us, and this has been applicable for years. We
like the death penalty, yet we've never had it. A
Couple of highlights for me Labour's moves around Mari and
introducing Treaty of White Hangy Principles into some legislation. The
majority of US US decades ago didn't want it. Now

(01:04):
we don't have the twenty twenty three results as yet,
but I bet you nothing's changed, which I would have
thought would lead you to ask, well, why hasn't it changed.
Why hasn't it been fixed? A bad idea allowed to
fester and cause on going angst and upset for decades. Why. Secondly,
there are signs of increasing They tell us dissatisfaction, concern,
and unhappiness. The authors say, not like the nineties. Now,
I remember the nineties as well. It was Richardson and Shipley.

(01:26):
It was welfare reform, the mother of all budgets. It
was burning of effigies on the Parliament grounds. You can
see the edginess these days was similar discourse and protest.
But it is suggested political polarization has declined over the
past decade. Really do you believe that? I don't. I
don't think we've ever been more divided, never been more
stark in our views of the country in the world,

(01:46):
social media distrust, fake news, polarizing views and stands. I've
got no idea how they've concluded that, but it's a
survey and it's new Zealander is speaking. Read it and
see if you disagree. But on most stuff, and he's
the really interesting thing. On most stuff, we haven't changed.
For decades, we haven't changed. The times have changed, the
circumstances have changed, but broadly we don't. And I'm not

(02:07):
sure if that's good or bad. For more from The
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