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Nesi’s Notes
1. Rhode Islanders have been feeling pretty gloomy for most of this century. Over and over, pollsters have found the state’s voters are significantly more dissatisfied and pessimistic than their neighbors in Massachusetts. Just look at the most recent UNH Survey Center polls of both states — 49% of Massachusetts voters say their state is headed in the right direction, but only 27% of Rhode Island voters say the same. With all that in mind, you’d think this would be a tough environment for an incumbent. But you’d be wrong. What was remarkable about Tuesday’s statewide primary was the overwhelming dominance of incumbents , who won up and down the ballot, often by lopsided margins. Granted, with voter turnout barely cracking 10%, Tuesday wasn’t a representative sample of the full electorate. And many candidates ran unopposed, leaving relatively few contested races. But that only adds to the curiosity — you might think a state where people say they’re dissatisfied would see more challenges to current officeholders, thus bringing out more voters. John Marion , longtime executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, points out that the state’s political institutions were designed for a different era, with two competitive political parties; the national Republican brand is now so damaged here that, practically speaking, the Democratic primary is usually the decisive contest. (The same is true, in reverse, in places like Missouri .) That helps explain why some are suggesting a fundamental change to Rhode Island’s electoral system, like a top-two primary or ranked-choice voting . But in the meantime, Marion says he doesn’t expect much to change. “Partisanship is a powerful drug,” he said. “It can blind people to a lot of problems.”