National and Labour's broken bungy and why we all need to grow up

Grumpy voters, crimes against candidates, desperate parties, unsophisticated MMP strategies and the return of John Key. As the campaign peaks, so does the tension.By Tim WatkinWatch the video version of the episode hereIn Caucus this week, Julian Wilcox, Lisa Owen, Guyon Espiner and Tim Watkin look at the angry mood of the campaign. Candidates are suffering unacceptable threats from the public. So why are people so fractious? What impact are Covid, co-governance and the cost of living having on voters or are we being influenced by global trends? Parties and their proxies are also starting to lose their cool - name-calling, making up claims, turning mountains into molehills and trying some desperate pleas.National has turned to John Key to try to persuade voters of the risks of New Zealand First, but the Caucus crew ask which voters they think he can swing. The Opportunities Party's Raf Manji has suggested a deal with National in Ilam. National quickly rejected it, but did National miss a trick months ago when it put all its eggs in the National/ACT basket?We look back at 2020 and 2017 to gauge New Zealander's history with split-voting and how that might influence this election. And we ask whether we should be worried about threats to the independence of media, the judiciary and Pharmac.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details