The Gadfly

Opinion polls, as opposed to elections, provide the participants with a chance to give effect to a fleeting impression, rather than a considered judgment. The poll will often reflect something that has caught the eye rather than engaged the brain.

An opinion poll, in other words, is likely to reward the gadfly, rather than the serious politician – one, in other words, who has responsibilities in the real world and who can therefore be expected to do things of consequence rather than simply posture.

The latest polls bear this out. The “big winner”, we are told, (though such terms are inevitably relative) is the gadfly-in-chief, David Seymour – and this comes as no surprise. The times are tailor-made for political gadflies. When the pandemic poses challenges on every front to the government of the day, there are endless opportunities for the gadfly to alight first here and then there, without ever having to face the challenge of real events himself.

The only reason we are invited to take the poll results with more than a pinch of salt is that the Herald sees some mileage to be made from them. David Seymour remains as far from the responsibilities of government as he has ever been; his value to the Herald is that he allows more pressure to be heaped upon the unfortunate Judith Collins and therefore hastens the day when National choose a new leader.

Bryan Gould
28 September 2021