Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The jury is out

I'm in full agreement with NBC Dipper that the NDP's latest ad figures to strike a chord with a substantial chunk of the general public. And I'll add that it makes perfect sense as an extension of the Darrell Dexter strategy of appearing mature and above the fray compared to one's opponents.

But while it's never a bad thing to build positive associations among those who are relatively far removed from politics (and the "on your side" message can easily enough be adapted to a more adversarial stance come election time), it remains to be seen whether the message will resonate anywhere near as much with Canadians who are inclined to support the NDP based on their seeing the problems with Canada's political system going beyond Harper and Ignatieff needing to "get down to work". And unless the NDP actually does expect either an election in the near future (whether or not based on the HST as a poison pill) or a massive number of otherwise-uninterested Canadians to open up their wallets to the appeal, I'd have to wonder whether its attention would be better focused on rallying and adding to its base than joining the arms race for warm-and-fuzzies.

No comments:

Post a Comment