Corruption and the polls

If corruption does not serve the wider community well, the negative election campaigns it often produces add an additional layer of unnecessary pain and dislocation.

Oppositions don’t win government; governments lose it

Tracking the ‘scandal’ induced Canadian election BLOG presents a great opportunity to reflect on the wider fallout from corruption on voters.
In this marathon, eight week campaign, early polls are unlikely to give any real clues to the outcome. I’m not even convinced that they have any great value in fine tuning a campaign.
Without the pressure of a looming election day, the pools are simply a vent for feelings rather than a considered, final intention.
Viewed in that way, they might have something to tell us. Conservative’s leader, Stephen Harper, no doubt with encouragement from his backers, has been chafing at the bit to force this election. He, they, can smell opportunity that must not be missed, an opportunity to win government.
All it will take, in their view, is to push the electorate just a bit further in their perception of how rotten the Liberals really are.
That means a negative campaign, one continually promoting the idea of corrupt politicians and a corrupt political party. Those negative concepts must be cemented into the minds of voters to the extent that they override any other electoral imperatives.
You see, people don’t generally vote on single issues, they make their final judgment on a whole complex of factors.
What invariably happens, when a negative campaign is pursued, is that it simply confirms a widely held belief that ALL politics is rotten and ALL politicians are tainted.
The early polling clearly shows the negative effect the campaign strategy is having on Harper and the Conservatives. If the Liberals are suspect, there is very little trust building for the Conservatives either, in fact they are slipping in key regions of the country.
The personal image of leaders, Harper and Martin are taking a beating. Martin is coming across as weary and hesitant; no doubt the result of holding together a party and parliament through the sponsorship scandal mess.
Harper cannot seem to break through the bogey of being extremist, with a secret agenda to be unleashed on the country if he were ever elected.
These feelings are exacerbated by comments, like a recent article in the Washington Times, which link the Conservative agenda too closely to the Bush Administration. Canadians want good relations with their neighbours, but the fear being melted, irretrievably, into that pot at the cost of their own identity.
Harper hit the ground running, releasing a new ‘promise’ every day, from day one. It seems a strange strategy for such a long campaign and has done nothing, yet, to ameliorate the negative basis of his campaign.
It is a grave mistake to predicate an election campaign on the negative! The Democrats must also think twice before they rush down that road. Let the courts, the prosecutors, the media even, drive the negative message.
The old political truth stands: Oppositions don’t win government; governments lose it.
If the politicians would just get out of the way, give reasons to support them, and let peoples good sense judge those who abuse the trust, we might begin to see some better performances all round.