Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, May 17, 2012

NDP making inroads among traditional Conservative demographics

Chances are I’ll be watching Grey’s Anatomy tonight. Truth be told, I watch it a fair bit. What’s a guy to do?

After a long week and a seemingly longer battle to get the kids to bed, it’s not a good idea to try to wrest the remote from my wife’s hands.

So Thursday nights, I hang out with McDreamy. Sigh.

I always thought I was the only one. Then last year, an advertising guy told me that about 40% of Grey’s Anatomy audience is actually men. And for the most part, men just like me, watching on account of their better halves.

For that reason, the last NDP election campaign ad buy was heavy on Grey’s Anatomy. And the Amazing Race. And other shows where there was a good chance that young ‘sandwich generation’ families were watching.

That was our path to growth, and it seemed to have a certain success. Come Election Day, on top of Quebec, New Democrat support had grown tremendously amongst New Canadians, young Canadians and women in particular.

At the end of the day though, two holdouts from the Orange Crush were the difference between second place and first.

Seniors and Men.

In both of those categories the Conservatives held an easy ten-point advantage.

Well what a difference a year makes.

Just last week, CARP released internal numbers that show the NDP at 39% among its members, up from a distant third and well ahead of the Conservatives who normally sit at 50%. That’s a momentous shift in the senior’s vote.

Just as astonishing, Harris-Decima’s most recent poll showed the NDP ahead of the Conservatives (yes you missed that screaming headline) and leading amongst male voters.

Turns out the guys heart Tom Mulcair.

Seniors and men. Until now they formed the rock-solid base of the Conservative Party. But they’re trending towards Mulcair, and that should have Harper’s team reaching for the panic button.

Why the sudden shift, particularly amongst two demographics that are often the hardest to move?

The Conservatives certainly deserve some credit. Harper’s signature policy this year – raising the age of retirement from 65 to 67 – is a total clunker in all age groups.

Ongoing stories of election robo-fraud or of a Harper Minister’s luxury London limo rides are enough to make the average Canadian, man or women, choke on their regular priced orange juice.

And New Democrats have been taking the fight right to the Conservatives.

The safe play would have been to spend the first months of Mulcair’s leadership solidifying the NDP base, protecting it as much as possible from Conservative or Liberal incursions.

But where’s the fun in that?

Instead, Mulcair began right away building the coalition he would need to contend for government in the next election.

He came out blazing on issues like Old Age Security and job creation, speaking directly to traditionally Conservative constituencies.

New Democrats launched a TV ad that, to say the least, bypassed soft and fluffy.

The ad has trucks and dogs and country music and power tools. It played in heavy rotation, not on Grey’s Anatomy, but during Jays games and the hockey playoffs.

The entire campaign was designed to reach out specifically to those holdouts from the last election campaign, particularly men.

And early indications is that, at the very least, it’s got them joining in the water cooler conversations.

Nobody should get ahead of themselves. Polls go up, and polls go down. There is a lot of real estate between now and the next election. And as Mulcair’s team no doubt learned this past week, honeymoons don’t last forever.

But in politics as in football, it’s always easier to be playing in the other team’s end.

Right now the battle seems to be over the hearts and minds of traditional Conservative voters. At the very least, it promises to make things interesting. Maybe even as interesting as Thursday night Prime Time.

Original Article
Source:  iPolitics
Author: Drew Anderson 

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