The measure, called Question 3, prompted heated debate in the months leading up to the election. Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the state’s dominant utilities, poured more than $40 million into a campaign opposing the referendum, outspending Pine Tree Power advocates 34 to 1. Political groups funded by the utilities and their parent companies mailed flyers and aired ads on TV, radio, and social media, urging Mainers to reject the measure, which would have effectively put the two companies out of business.
The difference between people that vote in favour of shitty policies like this vs people that vote for racist policies is huge. You cannot fault the average person for voting in favour of keeping utilities private the same way you can fault people voting for nazi policies. Understanding why a publicly owned utility is better for any non-capitalist (meaning people that own capital, not people who prefer capitalism) is a matter of political literacy, of which the average American is objectively severely lacking. It's easy to fall for propoganda (and at a 40:1 ratio there's no winning here) when there's no deeper understanding of the implications. Voting in racist policies is totally different imo. It doesn't require political literacy to understand that racism is bad, if you fall for racist propaganda then more severe measures are needed, something deeper is at play.