When I read posts on social media, when I talk to people I know, it seems that the people I know who discuss these issues tend to have good nuanced views. They generally believe that the ruling party has strong technocratic capabilities but also raise valid criticisms. There will be a spectrum of opinions, some leaning more towards one side and others to the other side, but all in all I consider them generally sound opinions based on good arguments.
But this is in reality just a subset of what is out there.
Speaking with some others, I can sense the strong support for the ruling party. They may not have strong opinions on many things, they just know that these are a bunch of people that have done a pretty good job, and so have no desire to enact any changes. Their views are much simpler, things like 'I don't like the way this person talks'. Fair enough, this is why the focus tends to be on the 'bread and butter' issues isn't it, these are what most people actually care about. I suspect this group is actually the largest group, and as they don't often air their views, they also are the silent majority.
I've also went to check out the Singapore reddit. I'm honestly really disappointed. I've seen good, constructive things come out of reddit, but some of the top upvoted comments I've seen there are just ridiculous. One of my friends described reddit as 'left-leaning' and 'opposition supporting', which sure by all means go ahead. But some of the false, and clearly problematic views that are being perpetuated there is just ridiculous.
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The Debate
The ruling party did pretty well, but they had many advantages. Not a fan of the format which is heavily incumbent favoured. The air time for first half was clearly not fair, though I think it's okay for the second half. The fact that they get the last say for everything with no chance for response as well. There are also other things that would be thrown into question like the likely amount of additional preparation they had. Then there are natural incumbent advantages (which can't be avoided) like being able to cite track record instead of future plans. But yea, I'll say they did pretty well, but with the caveat that they had all these advantages.
Poor showing from the new party. You should really bring a stronger communicator to a debate. Honestly this party hasn't been showing too much strength. It'll still be interesting to watch because they do have an ace which allows them to win many votes from the ruling party, an advantage that other opposition parties do not have. Would it be enough though? The ace seems to be all they have at the moment.
Really disappointed in the other party. And they're coming to my ward. Aggressively harping on unimportant things that aren't even true to play to the xenophobia of others. Putting words in the mouth of others to advance their own agenda. I was never a fan of them due to their policies, but after this I actually actively dislike them. This is the sort of divisive politics that we see in some of the western democracies that I have absolutely no interest in seeing in our country. I hope they get utterly destroyed this election and be relegated to being one of the loonies. Guess I made up my mind on how I'm voting. Honestly, I do have thoughts about whether we want to let the ruling party win by too big a margin... but after this, scrap that that's just a minor point. More importantly, I don't want these guys around, ever. (UPDATE: This whole situation got more annoying. They doubled down, and then the ruling party tripled down and got, in my opinion, too aggressive as well)
Finally, the last one, the main opposition party, they absolutely slayed it. To come in on a format that is skewed against you and just hit all the right points with great charisma, that was a great performance. They identified the right key points of attack, and focused on that. There isn't that much of a strong defense the ruling party can put up. The response by the ruling party that they actually agree on many things and are similar might actually even be beneficial to them because it gives them greater legitimacy. I have to say the members of the ruling party at his ward have much to fear. Their ward was already the one at highest risk, they didn't have the strongest team either, and now they have to deal with this guy who just had the opportunity to showcase himself on national TV. This is now my number 1 ward to watch.
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