Full Breakdown
Midterm Ballot Initiatives Shape Voter Choices Across 39 States
By Drooid · · How we work
Midterm Ballot Initiatives Landscape
Ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, voters in 39 states will decide on 145 statewide measures. The initiatives span a wide array of policy questions, from a proposed wealth tax targeting California’s billionaires to requirements that Alabama public schools broadcast or perform the first stanza of the national anthem each week. The ballot slate also includes abortion-rights provisions—protective measures in Idaho, Nevada and Virginia, and a rollback proposal in Missouri—alongside numerous property-tax reforms and referendums that would restrict transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports or bar gender-affirming medical care for minors.
Major Policy Areas on the Ballots
- Taxation: A novel wealth tax in California and multiple property-tax adjustments appear on dozens of ballots.
- Education & Culture: Alabama’s anthem requirement and several states’ proposals concerning transgender athletes and gender-affirming care for minors.
- Reproductive Rights: Protective abortion-rights measures in three states contrasted with a restrictive measure in Missouri.
Quantitative Snapshot
- Number of measures: 145 statewide initiatives.
- States involved: 39.
- Historical passage rate: The long-run average success rate for such measures is about 41 %.
- Public support for the process: Polls in every state show at least a 2-to-1 favorability for maintaining the initiative and referendum system.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Polls in every state show at least 2-to-1 support for having an initiative process,” — John Matsusaka — John Matsusaka, business professor at the University of Southern California and executive director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute.