"... we’re having an election about nothing. It just seems an inopportune moment in state history for this to be happening."

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Voters in a funk as politicians duck, dodge
Neither party is making much of a case it can solve the state’s problems. And on the biggest problems facing state government — education and transportation — we’re stuck. Voters are bored, uninspired and tuned out.
By Danny Westneat, October 17, 2014

Stuart Elway has been assessing the political moods of the people of the great state of Washington going back 22 years — 30 if you count his doctoral dissertation days at the University of Washington.

In all that time, we are in the biggest funk he’s ever detected, the Seattle pollster tells me.

“This has become the ‘to hell with it’ election,” he said.

On Thursday, Elway released a version of a survey he’s been doing since 1992. It asks voters how they feel about the performance of state government and also which political party they favor heading into the final two weeks of the election.

The results, to me, are an indictment of the political leaders in this state. It’s not that people are disgusted with lawmakers for doing the wrong things — because that would suggest action of some sort. Voters just are completely ... bored. Uninspired. Tuned out.

“People are very dissatisfied with what’s going on, but the really unusual thing is there’s no anger or energy for change going along with that,” said Elway, of Elway Research.

For one, more voters said they are dissatisfied with state government and don’t feel represented by it (57 percent) than Elway has ever recorded. Second, more voters identify themselves as independent — 43 percent — than Elway has found this close to an election dating back 20 years.

“It means people don’t want to be associated with either party,” he said.

Who can blame them?

Frustrated voters typically are good news for the party out of power — in this state, that’s mostly the Republicans. So some are predicting the GOP may win outright control of the state Senate (which the party has been running anyway due to two Democrats crossing over and voting with the GOP).

But at the same time, the share of voters here who identify with the GOP is near an all-time low — only 25 percent, Elway found. For such a blue state, Democrats aren’t doing much better, at just 32 percent. The take-away: Neither party is making much of a case it can solve the state’s problems.

Example: For the first time in history, the state Supreme Court has held lawmakers in contempt, for violating the state constitution by underfunding public education. That seems like a big deal, the kind of smack on the backside that might prod even the most mulish politician to trot out a few ideas on how to fix the problem.

Republicans, though, either act like the court ruling never happened or prattle about “putting education first,” without specifying what they would correspondingly put last (what they would cut).

Democrats muse about needing new revenue, but have no plan for getting it beyond vague spin about “closing tax loopholes.” Which is rich considering they just opened the largest one in American history for Boeing.

I realize this stuff is hard. But it isn’t this hard. On jobs and the economy our state is doing pretty well. But on the biggest problems facing state government — education and transportation — we’re stuck. I’m not even hearing a coherent argument made for one approach or another. Governor? Senate Republicans? Anyone?

The initiative to reduce class sizes kind of sums it up. It’s a great goal, one the people support, and so we already passed this back in 2000. But lawmakers decided they couldn’t pay for it and so ignored it.

Now we’re probably going to pass it again. And state leaders, rather than rallying the public for tax increases or other spending cuts (or some of both) in order to enact a clear priority of the voters, likely will do their level best to just run and hide from the issue again. Profiles in courage all around!

“I think to an unusual degree this election is overshadowed by what’s not in it, by what’s not being said,” Elway said. “So unless you’re really passionate about guns, it’s easy to tune it out.”

Sorry to be so gloomy, but we’re having an election about nothing. It just seems an inopportune moment in state history for this to be happening.
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