Just like the name suggests, in a “representative” democracy, elected politicians are expected to “represent” their constituents. (A Senator is a type of representative for that definition.)

That means that it is in your best interests as a constituent to elect a person who has the same political beliefs as you do, because you can’t predict all of the things that are going to happen, so you want somebody who is like you, so that it’s likely that they’ll do whatever you would have wanted them to do in any given situation.

But when that doesn’t happen, as is obviously the case with Fetterman, it is then the representative’s job to figure out what their constituents in aggregate want and to vote that way, regardless. Otherwise, they’re not representing their constituents.

Yes, there are obviously exceptions due to things like trading favors, but essentially, a representative should be able to say, “Look, I didn’t do what I think you wanted me to do, but here’s why, if you were in the same situation, you’d have made the same choice as me.”

My point is that you can’t poll that low and even pretend that you’re doing your job as a representative. If you poll that low, you should just resign on the spot.