Superior Narrative Alone Is Not Enough

Hurricane Trump – and a year-round ground game.

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The ground game aspect is somewhat downplayed in commentaries, written off as mere "machine politics" that comes with the PAP’s size, access to resources and 66-year incumbency.

But this misses a crucial insight: day-to-day work helping residents, treating municipal issues not as mundane or trivial parts of an MP’s job but as important priorities, and building strong connections with constituents creates electoral support. MPs who establish themselves as familiar faces rather than distant figures requiring deference accumulate the goodwill that translates into votes at the ballot box.

The PAP has long understood this, with present-day MPs like Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Mr Baey Yam Keng and Ms Denise Phua, among others, making their names as grassroots MPs through such service.

WP MPs clearly recognise this too, evident in how frequently they highlighted municipal-level work and estate upgrading plans in their rallies, even while pressing home their primary message about offering a balance to PAP dominance in parliament.

Former PAP MP Inderjit Singh tells me he saw conscientious and consistent grassroots work, as well as efforts to upgrade estate environment, as crucial to maintaining voter support.

Singaporeans essentially want problem-solvers as their MPs, whether at the municipal level or for those with more granular personal issues.

"It goes a long way in building goodwill and support… grassroots work is an important issue that many ignore," Mr Singh told me. He emphasised that it is not just national issues that matter to voters.

One of the first polls on the elections, released this week by Blackbox Research, confirms this view, noting that respondents indicated that the PAP had a "decisive advantage" when it came to ground campaigning and policies.