North Carolinians voted overwhelmingly to require all voters to present a valid ID, which is a racist policy worthy of Jim Crow if you ask Joe Biden or the Democratic Party.
Yet on the very same day, the very same voters, by a 60% to 38% margin, elected to the Senate Democrat Roy Cooper — who had vetoed past voter ID legislation, and whose judges struck down a voter ID law.
North Carolina voters also passed two constitutional amendments to curb taxes, while flipping five congressional seats from Republican to Democrat and giving control of the state House of Representatives to Democrats — who will surely do everything they can to raise taxes.
That is, North Carolina voters agree with Republicans on policy, but they don’t want Republicans in office.
The same story played out across the country.
Democrats maintain it is bigotry to deny “trans athletes” the right to compete. What they mean is that boys should be allowed to compete as girls. Underlying that extraordinary position is the more radical position that biological sex is meaningless and ought to be set aside in exchange for an ill-defined concept of “gender.”
Voters flatly rejected the Democratic position everywhere they had a chance: Voters passed policies that upheld biological sex in Arizona (59% to 41%), Colorado (52% to 48%), and Washington state (57% to 43%) this Election Day. The same Election Day, Democrats won every statewide election in Arizona and Colorado and appear to have flipped three congressional seats in Arizona.
Conservative policy. Liberal officials.
California, in two different ballot measures, rejected a core Democratic Party plan: the wealth tax. Of course, California voters elected Democrats up and down the ballot.
Again, voters are not merely siding with Republicans while electing Democrats — they are rejecting Democrats’ biggest, newest ideas, while passing Republican proposals that Democrats constantly assail as evil and bigoted. And voters are doing this while electing Democrats everywhere by double-digit margins.
Meanwhile, the voter polls (basically exit polls) revealed a pretty conservative electorate. More voters called themselves conservative than liberal (33% to 26%). Voters approved of capitalism by 56% to 32% and disapproved of socialism 53% to 33%.
What’s going on here?
Voters see Republicans as a party of good policies and bad people.
Corruption was more important to voters than even the cost of living, according to a massive voter poll by a media conglomerate. Most voters called corruption “crucial” to their vote, and most of those voters went for Democrats.
In North Carolina, for instance, Michael Whatley — out of some blend of rank partisanship and cowardice — peddled Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen, and cheered the blanket pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, which included violent felons who assaulted police officers.
You could imagine a voter who supported Whatley’s policy stances nevertheless preferring two-term Gov. Roy Cooper to represent him in the U.S. Senate.
Democrats, of course, have their share of scoundrels, cheats, and liars. But in 2026, the Republicans, on balance, were the party of low character.
In Texas, it seems very unlikely that most voters wanted to stand up federally funded and government-run abortion clinics to circumvent state law, but voters chose the champion of that policy, James Talarico, for the U.S. Senate. Talarico, it is important to note, was running against Ken Paxton, who was impeached by his own party on bribery charges, among a thousand other personal and professional ethical failings.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican running for Ohio governor, proved himself the lesser man by running an ad that tried to exploit the childhood abuse his opponent suffered.
All of this, of course, points back to President Donald Trump. A massive 62% of the electorate said Trump prioritizes his own interests over those of the nation. Voters trust him on immigration more than they trust the Democrats. They voted for him just two years ago. They agree with him on opposing higher taxes, and his middle-of-the-road positions on social issues and entitlements line up with the public.
But the Trump family appears to have spent the second Trump term enriching itself. Trump’s “bad tweets” (really posts on his own site, Truth Social) range from the petty and embarrassing to the downright shameful. His narcissism isn’t funny anymore.
LOOKS LIKE STARTER HOMES WILL REMAIN ILLEGAL IN MUCH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Meanwhile, Trump’s Cabinet, while it contains many fine family men and women, is also stocked with philanderers, self-promoters, and a Kennedy.
Americans want our statesmen to reflect not only the positions we hold, but also the values we profess. And when forced to choose between the two, sometimes the voters opt for the better man.