Forgive me if I have told this story before, but yesterday I promised to share with you my experience on how electorates see “key” issues.
It was almost 10 years ago, and I was taking a breadth subject in politics; a welcome relief from my micro-economics lectures. Out lectures often had guest speakers, and on this occasion, we had a campaign manager from one of the major parties come in and discuss the strategies of a successful election effort. I really liked him, he was gruff, no nonsense, and a straight shooter, unlike the vast majority of students in the room who probably wished to emulate him.
He started his speech with a command, then a question. “The secret to winning an election is figuring out what people want, and then making them feel like they’ll get it if they vote for you. Now, you’re all smart (doubt), what do youse reckon people care about?”
A irritatingly earnest girl in the front row thrust her arm into the air, mimetically impersonatingg a muggle Hermione Grainger. “The environment!” she gleefully pronounced, blissfully unaware, albeit momentarily, of her naïveté.
“Nope” fired back the manager, “that’s wrong”. The honesty was equal parts refreshing to startling. “Maybe out here in leafy Parkville, but out there in “Punter-Land”, people don’t give a shit about the environment”.
I was awed. Was this guy, in the words of Gen Z, fr? The manager realised he may have gone overboard, and walked back his statement a little. “Well, actually, people do care about their environment, but by the environments, they mean no dog turds down at the local park. I’m sorry, but people might like tigers walking around the forests of Sumatra, but they sure as shit don’t vote for them”.
He was truly a Churchillian figure.
I think there’s wisdom to be mined from this brief but memorable exchange. Punter Land is big, and they decide elections.