hen Wisconsin’s voters went to the polls on Tuesday, April 4, most national news coverage focused on the state’s Supreme Court election. But there was something else on the ballot worth their attention.
That’s right. Almost 80% of the referendum’s 1.78 million voters backed work requirements. Such a large majority undoubtedly included the votes of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. National politicians should heed this referendum’s results. Work requirements are a ballot-tested policy that can win an overwhelming majority in a polarized swing state, where the last two presidential elections were each won by just over 20,000 votes.
This strategy isn’t just bad for our country. It’s terrible politics. Levin writes, “The party that grasps that it has been losing for a generation will have a chance to make itself the next big winner in our politics.”