Editorial: Election 2020 - Campaigning amid Covid 19 coronavirus outbreak means pared-back drama

Drivers in queues of cars waited to get tested in central Auckland last Thursday. Photo / Dean Purcell

EDITORIAL:

New Zealand's election campaign is on hold and the Prime Minister has shifted back into governing mode over the coronavirus.

With the new Covid-19 outbreak, our society has slipped back into the subdued life of lockdown.

The return of restrictions does raise the question of what an election campaign could look like with those conditions.

The biggest casualties of a Covid campaign would be big events with cheering crowds and small intimate moments of leaders glad-handling supporters. Politicians would lack direct-contact events to persuade voters.

Yet there are other ways of getting messages across and connecting with voters.

We already know that press conferences given a stage-like setting can contain plenty of drama. Lockdown updates beamed live last week once again started grabbing our attention on television and when streamed online.

In the United States' presidential campaign, no political rallies are able to be held at the moment.

President Donald Trump is holding daily briefings as a way of getting the messages he wants to impart through to voters. He mostly speaks at the White House in front of socially distanced, mask-wearing reporters.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice-President Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris, arrive to speak at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo / AP

In essence, the briefings perform the same function as rallies. They get broadcast, and video clips of what the President says get spread around news sites and social media.

When Trump's rival, Joe Biden, became former President Barack Obama's running-mate in 2008, it was before a big outside crowd in Illinois.

On Thursday, the former Vice-President appeared with his own pick, Senator Kamala Harris, wearing masks into and out of a school gym before a group of silent reporters.

It was stilted because of social distancing and a lack of audience interaction, but the setting meant their speeches could be more carefully pitched for effectiveness and impact. There was no distracting crowd noise or yelling to the people in the back.

It was bring the quiet rather than bring the noise. Ironically, extra reliance on technology resulted in unplugged acoustic campaigning.

There was still plenty of interest on social media and they raised at least US$48 million in their first two days as a ticket. On Friday they held a remote session with health experts on the coronavirus with big screens while seated at desks. Biden has previously held policy speeches and Zoom-style talks and his campaign has released videos.

So a restricted campaign here would not be at all traditional but it would be possible. It is just another area of life which is being transformed by the virus, with technology gaining a greater role.