The referenda can be a bit misleading too...an important consideration is this: What exactly was the wording of the key question...or questions...in a particular referendum...and how did that affect the way people voted?

Politicians always try to word a referendum question in a manner that will manipulate people in the direction those politicians who are presenting the referendum would find most desirable.

"Chicanery" it's called.

Both sides of an issue should actually get to pose the key questions in their own chosen wording...and I suggest that if they did so, they might well BOTH "win"!

You see this kind of nonsense quite frequently in public opinion polls, where the questions are cleverly worded to elicite the desired answers.

- LH