I was just reading the latest in a long series of posts and articles about how raising the minimum wage polls pretty well across the political spectrum, so Democrats would be crazy not to vote for it.

I fully support raising the minimum wage and I agree that Democrats should vote for it. It is the right thing to do. Republicans should vote for it as well, for that matter.

But I also feel like a lot of pundits and activists need to acknowledge that “It polls well” does not equate “Voters will reward you for doing it.” In fact, given the rampancy of negative partisanship, there are a bunch of voters who will happily punish you for supporting a position that they like in principle simply because that position is, in practice, associated with the opposite party.