More Than Red and Blue: 2020’s Ballot Measures

Clyde Dwyer, 21’

Our electoral map paints a picture of a stark divide: a nation of urban blues and rural reds. But these colors don’t capture the real complexity of this election. That complexity can instead be found in the results of various ballot measures voted on across the country.

These measures, ranging from issues like the legalization of marijuana to labor rights to raising the minimum wage, were alongside the presidential candidates on the ballot. But how voters answered them didn’t necessarily match the candidate they chose. 

On Tuesday night, Trump won the critical state of Florida early on, with a handy margin of 400k voters. However, one significant ballot measure in Florida posed the question of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This measure passed by more than 2 million votes, indicating that the proposal was overwhelmingly popular. 

Although Florida’s raising of the minimum wage is quite tame, raising it to $15 by 2026, it still is a mirror of Biden’s policy. Sure, no one is voting for Biden purely on the grounds that he wants to raise the minimum wage, but it shows the vast popularity of even slightly-left policies in a “red” (for this election at least) state. 

Another example of this trend was the full legalization of marijuana in “red” and “blue” states alike; voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota all voted in favor of legalizing weed. Trump won both Montana and South Dakota by wide margins: 56% and 61%, respectively. Legalizing weed used to be a left-leaning proposal, with conservatives taking a hardline stance, but its popularity has now extended to both sides of the political spectrum.

The decriminalization of weed is one of Biden’s campaign proposals, though it has understandably taken a backseat to more pressing health and economic concerns in the country. Yet, Montana and South Dakota overwhelmingly voted for Trump, whose policy platform does not include anything on weed and who instead has taken stances against its legalization in the past (his administration rescinded an Obama-era memorandum on weed policy).

Perhaps the most surprising ballot measure results came from California, the ultra-liberal, electoral behemoth of 40 million people. California is reliably blue, yet the results of its ballot measures paint a more complicated picture. One of the most contentious measures was Prop 22, which would classify gig workers, like Uber drivers or Doordash deliverers, for example, as “independent contractors” instead of employees. Declaring gig workers as employees would require massive tech companies to abide by basic labor standards, such as giving workers health insurance, an hourly minimum wage, and job security. Tech companies and other corporate interests poured $200 million into targeted ad campaigns for the ballot initiative, which passed by 58% to 41%, indicating a massive win for tech companies and a huge loss for labor activists and progressives. 

Other ballot initiatives in California included Prop 15, which would raise taxes on commercial properties, like office buildings and Prop 21 which would give local governments the ability to establish rent control. According to the New York Times, about “$6.5 billion to $11.5 billion a year for public schools and local governments” would be allotted under Prop 15. Voters rejected it. Likewise, voters rejected Prop 21 despite California having the highest homelessness rate in the nation with many residents experiencing rent increases and eviction due to the pandemic. 

Democrat voters are not a monolith, and as such, the DNC has embraced the “big tent” description. This explains why both Colin Powell, an architect of the Iraq War, and AOC, the rising progressive star, spoke at the Democratic National Convention this Summer, although Powell was given more time than AOC to speak. 

These results from across the nation don’t mean oat milk will now rain from the skies in South Dakota or that cows will now graze in Beverly Hills or Silicon Valley. What it does show is the loose or loosening correlation between perceived ideology and the issues most popular amongst voters. Even if a state appears red on the electoral map, its citizens’ policy preferences may look quite blue (or green for Montana and South Dakota XD). States that vote in one direction for a candidate may vote in the opposite direction for certain issues. 

In this election and many from the past, policy wasn’t on the presidential ticket. People were.  The status quo, straight-out-of-the-swamp resentment that the ‘Biden’ name may inspire to individuals in Montana, won’t necessarily translate to negative connotations towards legalizing weed. Likewise, the (valid) fascist, vitriolic, and hateful connotations that the Trump name carries to a Californian, won’t translate to support for regulating massive corporations or helping tenants over larger property owners. 

There’s nothing new about saying personality dominates politics. But the responses to various ballot measures from voters show that issues still matter. Our country may be more divided now than ever. There are various diagnoses for this national ailment; social media disinformation, increased politicization of the personal sphere, the ugly words and actions of our current President. This is not to equate the left and the right to one another; I will say that the right possesses much more hateful and potentially dangerous extremist sects than the left does and is much more responsible for past violence and susceptible to future violence than the left. 

That being said, other political divisions might not be as deep-seated and intrinsic as we’ve come to believe. Perhaps it sheerly comes down to the messaging and aesthetics of policies and ideas, rather than what they will actually do.