PATTRICK SMELLIE: The first leaders’ debate changes nothing

Wed, 23 Sep 2020

Rarely in the last 40 years has a general election felt such a fait accompli as this one, and none so much as this one since the introduction of MMP voting in 1996.Last night’s first television debate between the Labour and National Party leaders, Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins, changed nothing.The scene was set by a poll that puts Labour at 48 percent support – a sizeable slip from the 53 percent achieved seven weeks ago in the last One News-Colmar Brunton poll – but still capable of producing a majority government without...

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