Labour goes negative

Newsroom reports:

With the grainy photo and vaguely unnerving music, it seemed for a moment like an artefact from an American political campaign.

But the Labour Party’s social media takedown of Christopher Luxon didn’t exactly reach Willie Horton levels of inflammation: “He’s not announced a single new policy,” the text blared of the National Party’s new leader after six months in the role.

Nonetheless, the decision to try out a negative line on Luxon caught the attention of many – particularly coming less than an hour before the release of a 1 News Kantar Public poll showing National again holding a slender lead over Jacinda Ardern’s Labour.

The last time I can recall a Government running attacks ads against an opposition leader 18 months before an election was when John Key was Opposition Leader.

It is a sure sign that the Government is worried about the polls.

When National was in Government, the strategy was to ignore Phil Goff, David Shearer, David Cunliffe Andrew Little until the election campaign. You want to look like you are focused on governing, not trying to take down the opposition leader.