Voters hate the often dirty politics that elections bring and the pressure and intensity of a year of pandemic and recession has amplified that revulsion.

The re-emergence of politics as usual has been more disheartening because of an all-too-brief golden period of everyone pulling in the same direction – a display of unity seen best with the creation of the national cabinet.

This week has seen Labor candidates at odds with the party’s official position to put One Nation, Clive Palmer and other fringe-dwellers at the bottom of official how-to-vote cards and one LNP volunteer engaging in some offensive online trolling of an ALP Gold Coast MP.

There have been the usual bumper crop of lies, half-truths and cherry-picked statistics. Voters expect this during election campaigns and most people ignore it or bake it in as more of the same.

A recent focus group held for a non-political party organisation fired up when participants were asked their impressions of the campaign.

“Mudslinging”, “childish”, “lies”, “name-calling”, “schoolyard antics” and “just appalling in every way” were the top of mind responses. Regardless of which party people were leaning towards, there was a higher than usual disillusion with the politicians and their campaign tactics.

However, there was also a collective shrug and reluctant acceptance that this is the way it’s always been and always will be.

How people vote is only affected by these gutter tactics at the margins – and that could be pivotal in a very tight contest in the closest electorates. More generally, it’s filed away as more “white noise” that passes through voters’ minds.

In politics fair comment has the downside of stretching to telling lies – it is all part of having a robust tradition of free speech and no one wants to curb those freedoms.

There is a case for regulating paid political messaging with “truth in advertising” laws although the politicians who would have to enact such changes are loath to do anything on that front.

At the same time, we shouldn’t get carried away with this cacophony of untruth – it is not much more prevalent than usual and is nowhere near the most lie-soaked campaign we’ve seen.