As the dust settles on the 2024 election cycle, and the extent of Republican gains comes into view, some observers are drawing a predictable conclusion: If voters supported GOP candidates in such large numbers, it must be because voters agree with the party on the big issues of the day.

Mark Penn, a former adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, published, for example an incorrect election assessment to social media, which began, “America is a central country at heart. Only 25 percent are liberal and the other 75 percent will not be ruled by the 25.”

On a superficial level, I can appreciate how some come to conclusions like these. If most voters supported Donald Trump and Republican congressional candidates, the argument goes, then it stands to reason that voters would prefer conservative ideas to progressive ideas.

But a closer look at some of the election results suggests that the ideological lines are not so clean. For example, Trump and his party advocated private school vouchers. But like It was reported by the New York Timesvoters in three states — including two red states where Trump won easily — rejected voucher systems.

In Kentucky, nearly two-thirds of voters defeated a proposal to allow state tax money to fund private and charter schools. In Nebraska, 57 percent of voters approved a ballot initiative that repealed a small program intended to give low-income families tax dollars to pay for private school tuition. In Colorado, the votes are still being counted. But it seems likely that voters narrowly rejected a broadly worded ballot measure that would have established a “right to school choice,” including in private schools and home-school settings.

Note that Nebraska voters backed the GOP ticket by more than 20 points. In Kentucky, the margin was more than 30 points. But those same voters still took a hard look at one of the Republican Party’s top education priorities and said, “No thanks.”

Also, it wasn’t just coupons. Voters in 10 states considered abortion rights initiatives this year, and they passed in seven — including in some states Trump carried. (In Florida, a majority of voters supported an abortion-rights measure, but it was not a large enough majority to pass.)

In ruby ​​red Missouri, where Republicans like Trump and Sen. Josh Hawley easily won, voters also easily approved measures to raise the minimum wage and oblige employers to prove paid sick leave. Voters in Alaska, which also supported the GOP ticket by a wide margin, did the same thingraises the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and requires employers to provide paid sick leave.

A few weeks before Election Day, YouGov conducted an interesting poll asking respondents their views on the political priorities of Trump and Kamala Harris – except the twist was that participants were not told which policies were associated with which candidates.

The results were remarkable: Harris’s agenda was much more popular than Trump’s, but many had no idea that the Democrats’ priorities were in fact her priorities.

asked What they wanted, voters backed Harris’ vision. asked WHO they wanted, voters backed the candidate who offered the opposite of her vision.

To be sure, there is room for a broader conversation about why many Americans who support progressive policies also end up supporting candidates who will reject those same progressive policies. But on a variety of key fronts, it’s still true that a true center-right nation, filled with an electorate where conservatism was on the rise, probably wouldn’t have supported so many progressive ballot measures.