What's that? We're going to be OK after all?

A story in The Australian today reported that Australians are pretty left wing after all, and not merely that but that Australians have moved leftwards under Howard. Interesting...

Here's a thing - all attitudinal surveys are prone to issues of social desirability of responses; people answer the way they think they would like to be seen to answer.

Why is this an issue? At the moment, I don't know that many Australians like John Howard, though doubtless many have some degree of respect for him. This may manifest through recognition of his formidability as an opponent or it may be as a regard for his tenacity. This does not mean they agree with everything.

There may even be a majority of people that disagree with his broader policy platform. However, if a minority of these choose to vote for him and the sum of this minority and the people who do agree with his platform amounts to greater than 50% then he wins.

But though this kinda sounds bad, it also means that the mountain that the Left needs to ascend to wrest power is not as insurmountable as some would like us to believe. The Left is not dead. Notions of social justice and fairness are still popular.

I've also blogged recently about how the Government aren't exactly making the most of their new numbers in the Senate in such a way that can make real radical changes. This must irritate their right-wing freak show cheer squad in the CIS, IPA and editorial staff of Quadrant no end I'm sure.

The two may well be linked. Quite simply, the Government can only go so far. Radical changes will not work. The Government will fall and the changes overturned. People can be led along only so far, but eventually there is a barrier that they will not cross.

The best example I can think of: taking the axe to Medicare is something I'm sure the Tories would love to do, but simply could not manage politically. The proof comes from when Abbott tried to take it apart slowly last term, and had to revise the policy something like four times to ensure that it was no longer so politically unpalatable that it posed a threat to the Government's electoral prospects.

What is the practical benefit to be gained from this perspective? There's a benefit to be gained from promoting progressive policy and highlighting the regressive nature of the Government. There's a benefit to ensuring that the people know that the Government is extreme and out of touch and relentlessly attacking their ideologically driven policy regime.

The more that people's perceptions match the reality, the more the shaky bonds of 'respect' wear away, until eventually they will snap. The populace awakes, the people rise and cast out their Government.

The people are more left-wing than we give them credit for. This alone won't give us a left-wing government, but it will help.

[Note: In my print copy of the article, the headline reads "Shift to the Left under Howard." As you can see from the link, this has now changed to "Howard era leaves us richer, happier." Curious... Obviously the original headline gave the wrong impression somehow...]