Bean there, polled that

There’s a lot of talk about opinion polls—of course: It wouldn’t be election season without them. Some are better and more reliable than others, and all will change over time. This week I took part in a very important poll: The Bean Poll.

I was at Glenfield Mall to pick something up this week and passed by Muffin Break and noticed they were running their Bean Poll. Some locations make you ask for a bean (usually after a purchase…) but this one had a cup with beans, so I voted (with only ONE bean, of course!).

It’s hard to tell from my quickly snapped photo, but Labour was clearly ahead in the Bean Poll. While Glenfield has pockets of solid Labour support, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they all go to that mall, let along take part in the Bean Poll. Maybe our voters are just more motivated to participate—maybe we’re full of beans?

Actually, energy and motivation is clearly key to electoral success. In all the years I’ve lived in New Zealand, I’ve never seen such an energised campaign as I’ve seen with Labour this year. The party’s base is fired up, our activists are fired up and the ordinary people we talk with want a change of government. Over time, we’ll see that reflected in the ordinary opinion polls, too.