Human Nature

[Ivan Denisovich]

One problem many voters fail to acknowledge is that the government can't solve all of our problems, no matter what politicians promise.

Also, a fair number of voters do get what they want from their representatives.  It's just that in such a divided nation as the U.S., that group most likely can never be a majority.  

In other words, our perceptions of what the government is doing for us and what is possible are likely askew.  Such a lack of comprehension may well soon be corrected as we learn the hard way what government has actually been doing for us after Trump undermines it.

Our inability to correctly track cause and effect, because we are habituated or spoiled, is yet another problem with human nature.

In my opinion, it would help if more people understood history and human psychology better.

Granted, perceptions are often skewed. 

The study I referred to gives its methodology, so it isn't simply a question of people's perceptions. You can check to see if you find the interpretation of the data persuasive. 

https://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/idr.pdf

Issue is that people might not really support what they say they support or see it as nice to have but not trumping other factors. Supposedly many poor wants minimum wage to be raised. Does their voting reflect it? Do they vote on people who said "yes" to raising minimum wage when bill for it was presented (or for those who pushed for said bill themselves, depends on vagaries of country system I guess) or merely on people who promise raising it. Ye shall know them by their fruits is one of pathetically small list of biblical wisdom; if one votes for those who say instead on of voting on those who do then one shouldn't complain about not getting what one want.

In the end politicians promises are only worth as much as people will to held them accountable. If politicians are reelected despite breaking them how can public complain about not getting what it wants?