True colours

Research suggests Kiwi voters are less dyed in the wool than those in the US.

- Marc Wilson

The past month has certainly made it feel like it's election year. Labour and the Greens have had folk hop waka or abandon the race entirely. We've seen a revolving door of ministerial portfolios and, if Christopher Luxon is to be believed, Labour's headed for a "coalition of chaos", not a million miles away from the "chaos caucus" that some US media have used to describe the 2023 Republican congressional caucus.

Luxon, too, has had his own personnel troubles: you can bet Labour will be reminding voters about the historical and contemporary missteps of Sam Uffindel, Barbara Kuriger, Stephen Jack, Maureen Pugh and others come election time.

But will this make any difference? A US poll in late April stated that 71% of Republican voters said they would vote for Donald Trump, and 63% would do so even if he were convicted of a crime. In short, the US electorate appears now to be so polarised that red and blue pot plants would receive about half the vote each, even if they were criminal pot plants.