# Disconnect between the results of the races for elective office and the ballot measures **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 5, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812 "2014-11-05T22:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/21 "2014-11-06T03:32:53Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > From what I’m reading, although unemployment is down and the GDP is up, voters are not happy that wages are still flat with respect to where they were before the Great Recession. Fair enough. > > But what should we _do_ about this problem? What if the answer is, “I don’t know”? Who do you vote for then? Because I think that’s where a lot of people are. They just want it fixed, and the people in charge aren’t fixing it. They’re blaming each other and spending all their time playing politics instead of actually doing their jobs and fixing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/22 "2014-11-06T03:36:06Z")
And I suspect Obama gets more blame for that, not just because he’s the President, but also because he made big promises that he was different. I think voters have figured out by now that he’s just a typical politician. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/23 "2014-11-06T03:41:56Z")
Same thing happened here in Illinois. From [Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader.](http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/11/05/searching-for-the-bright-side-to-bruce-rauners-victory) “How about that advisory referendum calling for a hike in the minimum wage? It won roughly 63 percent of the statewide vote. So we have the curious situation where most voters voted to hike the minimum wage only to turn around and vote for the gubernatorial candidate (Bruce Rauner, Republican candidate and winner) who will probably do everything he can not to hike it. Just call us schizophrenic.” WTF? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/24 "2014-11-06T03:59:04Z")
Quinn presided over probably the worst economic performance of any state in the union. Like I said, agreeing on the issues is not the only consideration and it’s one area where it seems the uninformed voters actually get it more than the informed voters do. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/25 "2014-11-06T04:13:36Z")
A referendum doesn’t tell you how strongly people feel. 63% of voters in Illinois said that Illinois should raise the minimum wage, but that’s because it was forced in front of them. How many of them, if you asked them what the state should be doing for the next four years, would have included a minimum wage hike without being prompted? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/26 "2014-11-06T04:16:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Quinn presided over probably the worst economic performance of any state in the union. Like I said, agreeing on the issues is not the only consideration and it’s one area where it seems the uninformed voters actually get it more than the informed voters do. Let me get this right. An uninformed voter agrees and supports the issue to raise the minimum wage, but, gets it right when also voting for a candidate who opposes raising the minimum wage? Is that what you are saying, adaher, or am I misreading your statement? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/27 "2014-11-06T04:19:44Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > A referendum doesn’t tell you how strongly people feel. 63% of voters in Illinois said that Illinois should raise the minimum wage, but that’s because it was forced in front of them. How many of them, if you asked them what the state should be doing for the next four years, would have included a minimum wage hike without being prompted? A referendum doesn’t tell you how strongly people feel? Really? This was a freebie. The minimum wage vote was non-binding in Illinois. If it was non-binding, what was forced upon the voters? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/28 "2014-11-06T04:22:42Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > A referendum doesn’t tell you how strongly people feel? Really? No, it just tells you yes-no. Those were the only options on the ballot. The person who felt it was an okay thing to do but not a priority voted on the same line as the person who thinks the current minimum wage is a dire form of wage slavery. Only one of them is going to be pissed if the minimum wage is not higher in a year. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/29 "2014-11-06T04:40:37Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Let me get this right. > > An uninformed voter agrees and supports the issue to raise the minimum wage, > > but, > > gets it right when also voting for a candidate who opposes raising the minimum wage? > > Is that what you are saying, adaher, or am I misreading your statement? I’m saying that minimum wage wasn’t the most important issue to Illinois voters. The performance of Gov. Quinn was. A poor performing governor isn’t going to be saved merely by the fact that most voters agree with him on the issues. If you suck at your job, you’re gone. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/30 "2014-11-06T04:41:06Z")
Oh, look. Moar cherry picking. ---
**Author:** ![Randvek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@Randvek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randvek)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/31 "2014-11-06T05:36:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If you suck at your job, you’re gone. You clearly have \*no \*idea how politics work. ---
**Author:** ![Randvek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@Randvek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randvek)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/32 "2014-11-06T05:40:14Z")
But seriously, I think it’s because ballots don’t have parties associated with them. You _have_ to think for yourself instead of just running down a list of Ds and Rs. Liberal policies tend to (not always, but tend to) do better and conservative ones worse when worded neutrally as to not give clues as to what side they are on. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/33 "2014-11-06T05:41:59Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Well, OK, but what do independents _want_? They want to throw the bums out; but what is it that they want the bums to actually do? We want to confuse the heck out of party loyalists and keep them guessing. We are an obnoxious lot. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/34 "2014-11-06T05:53:39Z")
The Washington state vote favors gun control, but otherwise Washington voters largely just reelected their incumbent representatives, right? What is the perceived disconnect or contradiction there? For different reasons, the vote in Colorado also does not really strike me as contradictory. The electorate may well perceive “personhood” as a fairly extreme or unpredictable pro-life measure, so rejecting it while electing a moderate Republican US Senator sends a message to take a different path, but within certain limits. As for the minimum wage, it’s been observed by [some](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/the-scariest-part-of-the-republican-blowout-for-democrats/382375/) [pundits](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/republicans_win_the_senate_by_sounding_like_democrats_america_is_moving.html) that part of the reason for the breadth of the Republican victory may be an overall shift toward the center on economic issues by their candidates, and a minimum-wage increase may be seen as an acceptable point of compromise. As one example, whatever Rauner’s intentions may be as of now, he has [avoided](http://brucerauner.com/get-the-facts/bruces-position-on-minimum-wage/) taking a dogmatic position in opposition to a minimum wage increase. More generally, American voters frequently choose divided government. For instance, Massachusetts and Illinois both just returned Democratic Senators and Republican governors. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812/35 "2014-11-06T07:46:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > the economy hasn’t been that bad though under Obama’s leadership. I know it’s unusual in politics, but I do think that voters have been influenced by the steady trickle of mismanagement stories since his second term began. I have no idea how much of an issue it is, but I do know it contributes to some extent to the view that he’s not governing well. I’m a big Obama fan, and I have to admit that I pretty much agree with this. I think the issue is, naturally, overblown by his political opponents (and by adaher), but there is a nugget of truth there. It’s problematic for Obama (meaning, sadly, his legacy of accomplishments) because it’s so tied into his personality. He is logical, academic, persuasive and charismatic in a professorial way, and calm to a fault – all good traits in many respects, but only tangential to some of the traits which facilitate day-to-day management of a large organization. We always knew this was his weakness, of course – the lack of executive experience was sure to be an issue. But let’s not exaggerate. He’s a quick learn, and he’s had mostly good help from mostly good folks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disconnect-between-the-results-of-the-races-for-elective-office-and-the-ballot-measures/703812.md?page=1)