How would you have voted on this referendum?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?f=0&fips=27&elect=0&off=50&year=2008

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

As I actually did, I voted yes (urban).

As did 88.05% of my precinct (less than the vote for Obama though, that was a flat 89%)

What I found interesting though is how non-ideological it was otherwise.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

No(suburban).

A regressive tax to fund the arts is particularly annoying, as a transfer payment from the less well off to the more well off as a generalization.

Except it was supported overwhelmingly by the lower classes. Note the results in my precinct. Plus its best county was my old one thanks to overwhelming support by the college kids in the campus precincts with poverty rates of over 25%.

Rural Democrats and teabaggers were against, everyone else in favor. Kind of odd.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes (rural).

You would think rural people would be for the outdoors preservation part, unless that means something else than what I'm thinking.

Most rural areas did vote for it. The ones that voted against already get tons of subsidies due to state parks and whatnot being there. Hmmm, that could explain a bunch...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

only in a year with a surplus where the economy was doing great.

^^^Pretty much this

I'm not big on public funding for the arts.

It's for 25 years. There's going to be strong economies and recessions during such a period, dumb to base it on the current period.

The whole point of it being the arts and outdoors was basically because supporters of each figured by combining them they could combine urban and rural voters for it. It worked.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Good Og no.  If the "art" in question is important to the people it will be supported by the people.

It wasn't just arts funding.

Sales taxes are something of a flat tax (bad) but harder to evade than most other taxes rich people are theoretically supposed to pay (very very good).
Of course it sort of depends what articles the state sales tax is being levied on, exactly.

Food and clothing are exempt from the Minnesota sales tax for the record.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

People voting in a referendum to increase taxation?  I'm shocked.  Here in California, such a referendum would be defeated by a huge margin, and anybody who supported the measure would be crucified.

It's only a 0.375% increase. Buy something that costs $100 and you pay an extra 37 cents. California is kind of goofy if they freak out over that, though Minnesota is just a tax-tolerant state in general. We are always very close to the top of states among taxes paid after all.