Are Politicians the Problem with Politics?

On the fence about who to vote for? It could be less about the policies and more about how they’re communicated.

am&co’s Charlotte Shipman shares her insights and experience.

I can’t not vote. But I don’t know who to vote for.

This is the conversation I’m hearing and having a lot.

I’ve always voted. I know it’s important but I feel like my kids at the dairy, weighing up which $1 lolly mix to go for. Staring at the options. Putting a hand out, only to draw it back again. They want to get it right. Not like the time they thought they picked lollies, but it was chewing gum.  The disappointment was palpable.

If they’d been able to get into that bag, give it a real squeeze, even one small bite - they would have known! But we don’t allow that at the dairy and in politics it’s similar. We get the veneer and most of us choose based on that.

Still sitting on the fence? Here’s why I am:

I don’t get it

I’m educated and engaged. I watch the debates. I listen to the news. And I still glaze over at PREFU, the pre-election update that sounds like a sneeze, and OBEGAL, the way the government’s accounts are measured.

OBEGAL sounds like what I say when my daughter wears every sock she owns to avoid putting them away. Oh-My-Gal.

That kind of maternal head shaking happens to me often when I hear politicians speak.

If politicians could make it make sense and tell me why this matters to me, I’d be more likely to vote for them. The numbers are important but they don’t stick. You have to make those numbers relatable and real.

The behaviour

The snarky interruptions and scrapping are such a turn off. I’ve got three kids, if I want to see that, I can find it much closer to home.

Battle hardened politicians know this marathon. They’ll conserve energy through some of those gruelling kilometres, and push in others.  It pays to remember; although this might be your 4th, 5th, 6th campaign, for a voter this could be their only interaction with a politician.

If it looks like you don’t care (because you’re scrolling on your phone during a panel, or being dismissive or defensive) that sends a powerful message that will be remembered at the ballot box.

Who’s telling the truth?

Everyone swears the other side is lying. Their numbers don’t stack up, their ideas don’t add up. But someone has to be right…right?

Maybe that’s just politics. The knives are out at election time. National’s Chris Bishop said at the Transport Priorities Panel where I was MC, that he’s mates with Opposition MPs Julie Anne Genter from the Greens and Labour’s Kieran McAnulty (they play cricket together). But election year certainly doesn’t bring out the kumbaya.

I don’t have the time or the bandwidth to investigate every claim and counterclaim. I'd love to be able to trust what they say is correct, I’m relying on journalists and commentary from the experts.

It’s overwhelming and exhausting

It’s everywhere. The pace is frantic - multiple policies by multiple parties announced daily  (Sunday is particularly popular). You’ve barely got the bullet points from one to consider before the next fires into the headlines.

I get it, most people don’t switch on to politics until six weeks before an election so politicians have to capture that short window of attention.

But there’s a reason we aren’t engaged the whole election cycle, we’re not wired for sustained concentration. Can you remember last week’s promise? I can’t.

I reached out to a former MP and asked if he missed this hullabaloo. He doesn’t. His observation: the journos look bored.

Mine? The politicians look tired: lost voices, sleep deprived eyes trying to find the right camera to look at, excessive handshaking means no one’s doing arm day at the gym.

We’re all feeling it. So what would help?

If you’re still on the fence - it’s ok.  You can decide late. It might all just come together like it did for a woman I know after the local MP door-knocked then stayed on and played her piano. Two ticks for Beethoven.

If you’re campaigning: strip it back, make it real and remember to respect every vote and every voter.

I’m creeping closer to a decision. I want to make sure I’m not choosing chewing gum because it looked like what I wanted from afar.