conclusion if McCain had won. There is no way of knowing if he would have won if he had advocated an even smaller role for the federal government, so we don't know if the electorate (in this hypothetical) wanted McCain because they wanted a government of the size he advocated, or because they wanted smaller government and he was the only one who pointed that direction. In that circumstance you would have insufficient data to determine whether the electorate was effectively responsible for the growth in government. If we turn the perspective about entirely, and ask whether the electorate is responsible for not increasing government at a rate even greater than Obama, we would run into the same lack of data. Because there was no viable candidate advocating an even more extensive governmental role, we do not know whether Obama's position was the best they could get, but would have chosen more if available. So if the question is whether the 2008 electorate wanted a larger and more invasive government (and is therefore completely responsible for choosing it), the answer is absolutely, unquestionably, 100% yes. That's irrefutable just as a matter of logic. But if the question is whether they would prefer a government even more intrusive than the one they got, we don't know because the election did not provide that data. Your analysis, however, works with respect to those issues that do not dominate a campaign. An election is a blunt instrument (an MC Hammer, perhaps?). Voters cannot