Matt Gilbertson tests Boothby and Sturt voters’ political knowledge | Watch the video
On Saturday the Australian people get their say. But do they know what they’re talking about? Matt Gilbertson went to put some through our test.
Federal Election
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It’s been a gruelling six-week election campaign.
Six weeks of promises and gaffes, six weeks of stunts and shenanigans and six weeks of posters on every Stobie pole in SA showing political hopefuls smiling down on us all, begging us for a vote.
But after this long and relentless campaign and media coverage, how much of it all has actually caught the attention of voters in SA’s two key seats of Boothby and Sturt?
A walk down two busy shopping strips in each electorate on Wednesday afternoon has us thinking: Not a great deal.
In fact, most people we approached couldn’t even name the candidates in contention or which party they belonged to.
Even when we showed photos of those exact same candidates who have adorned the Stobie poles throughout the last six weeks.
On The Parade in Norwood, the heart of the electorate of Sturt, many voters were happy to chat about the issues that were important to them. Climate change, government accountability and foreign policy being just some of the aspects of the campaign that had people talking.
But when we asked if voters could name the political hopefuls in the running for the seat of Sturt, it was another story.
Even the name of current sitting member James Stevens from the Liberal Party seemed elusive to those on the street.
Mr Stevens did have better luck being identified in an online quiz on Advertiser.com.au. Ninety-one per cent of 500 participants were able to guess that Mr Stevens was the Liberal candidate for Sturt after seeing his photo.
Polls in the lead-up to the election suggest that the ALP has been gaining ground in Sturt with a YouGov poll last week showing Mr Stevens locked in a dead heat with Labor candidate Sonja Baram, sharing 50 per cent of two-party preferred support.
But Ms Baram was less instantly recognisable on the streets and online. Just 68 per cent of those who took our quiz were able to identify Ms Baram and only 25 per cent of responders said they thought the ALP would be successful in winning Sturt.
The ALP had better luck in Boothby, however.
93 per cent of quiz responders were able to identify the Labor candidate for Boothby, Louise Miller-Frost, and a 92 per cent recognised the ALP’s promise of a $400m upgrade of the Flinders Medical Centre if they form government this weekend.
Independent candidate Jo Dyer, who has courted her fair share of media attention throughout the campaign, had 89 per cent recognising her photo while Liberal hopeful Rachel Swift was recognised by 85 per cent of responders.
When asked who they thought would take out the seat of Boothby, 52 per cent said they believed the ALP would be successful on Saturday night. The LNP was predicted by 40 per cent and Jo Dyer by 6 per cent, with the rest of the poll being split between the Greens and other candidates in the race.
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