Labour losing the devoted

Verity Johnson writes:

Christopher Luxon really, really isn’t my political type.

In my circles, admitting you’d vote for him is like turning up to book club with a goat’s head and suggesting we all try the Satanic Bible this month.

Yet if you asked me in those polls last week I’d have chosen National – with gritted teeth.

I was on The Panel with Verity a while back, and she self-described herself as Jacinda fangirl. For her to be saying that she would have chosen National over Labour last week is significant.

All the unresolved disappointments of the last election are still here. And then despite there being a global pandemic, last year house prices still went up 23.8 per cent. It looks like I won’t be able to take the Auckland rail link until after I hit menopause.

Verity is 28 years old. The average age of menopause is 52 so this should happen around 2046.

It is possible the light rail Labour promised to complete by 2021 will be done by 2046, but not overly likely. With a possible price tag of $30 billion it is more likely they will just every two or three years spend another $100 million on business cases and reports on it, and not actually ever start it.

So now, as we come out of Covid, we’re looking to peacetime governance. And we’re faced with the underwhelming choice of staying in a loveless marriage – or cheating with Luxon. This is about as grim as $4.50 for one piece of broccoli.

But it’s true, you can’t stay in a relationship out of gratitude for the past. You have to actually have hope and faith in their future. And I don’t know if I do any more with Labour.

Labour have lost over a quarter of their 2020 support in just 18 months. How much more will go?