It doesn't matter how many Republican voters say they want weed to be legal or want to end civil asset forfeiture, as long as they keep voting for people who back the blue, it doesn't matter what they want, it matters what they vote for
America's terrible political funding system and two parties mean that breaking ranks for a "small" thing like ending civil asset forfeiture would guarantee you end up getting the "other" guy, so people don't.
Then our primary system has such little engagement from the average voter that it only serves to make politicians more extreme, not more representative.
If we switched to approval voting (a checkbox next to each candidate, can check multiple candidates, whoever gets the most checks wins)...then we wouldn't need primaries and I'd be able to vote for anyone I'm "okay" with. Then my vote for X would still count.
However, the problem is that Republicans immediately latched on that this would erode their power base, when the fairly disparate opinions of Maine conservatives and non-liberals are actually able to choose what they want.
So now changes to voting are part of the culture war. Republicans were vocally against ranked choice voting, and stonewalled it in the courts after it was passed. Their primary call to action was "One person, one vote", and no, they do not care that that doesn't make any fucking sense as an actual complaint against RCV.