It is my impression that PMD root nodes get down-voted more because they tend to not be well thought-out, not because people disagree with a proposal.

FTR: I do downvote proposals in PMD if I don't like them on principle. If the poster put some effort into the proposal I usually also take the time to explain my reasoning. Though most of the really bad proposals seem also pretty badly thought out.

Completely agreed with the rest of your post, though.