1) Hard to say why, but they do. It maybe comes down to "politics over policy". 2) This also happens, but it's a bit harder because you need a wider variety of

1) Hard to say why, but they do. It maybe comes down to "politics over policy". 2) This also happens, but it's a bit harder because you need a wider variety of people to agree, and federal-level politics get a lot more visibility in the news. Consider that referenda are generally uncommon and that you have to vote for a whole politician, not individual policies.