There is no national referendum in the US. Whoever told you there is has misinformed you.

Also, you think Americans get time off work to vote? Lol. Lmao, even. Americans don’t get time off to vote. ~40% of Americans didn’t vote at all in the last presidential election, and that has the largest turnout. And you think they’re going to take time off work for a (non-existent) referendum vote?

One of the biggest reasons that America’s politics skews right is because the rich and retired are the ones who have time to reliably vote, and America’s rich and retired demographics both skew conservative. Democrats have much higher numbers when you look at the raw numbers, but democrats also largely don’t vote because they’re poor working class people who can’t afford time off (or can’t set their own schedule to ensure they have time).

If a minimum wage cashier works an 8 hour shift on Election Day, you think they’re going to drive all the way across town (because conservatives closed “consolidated” all the polling locations in liberal areas) and spend 4 hours in line to vote after their shift? No, they’re going home to crash, because they’ve been on their feet all day and they’re exhausted.