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Notes -
"But I think the average Democrat voter is much closer to the platform of their party than the average Republican voter. Because, again, conservatives don't care enough to take command of their own party."
So, speaking from the left, I agree with you on the first part, even if my fellow lefties don't.
On the latter part, the difference in the GOP makes sense, even if that is currently changing, thanks to Citizen's United (ironic that's largely been a negative for the GOP & a positive for the DNC), because there isn't much split between what college and non-college educated Democrat's want. Sure, the non-college educated may not be as woke, but they're not opposed. They just don't really care, but both college & non-college educated Dem's want higher taxes on rich people, a larger welfare state, left-leaning social policies, and so on.
OTOH, the college and non-college educated parts of the GOP want distinctly different things. The issue is, and I'm trying to be nice to the conservatives here, is that an actual fervent conservative loses 36 to 40 states, against even a fairly liberal Democrat, because most people like most of the things Democrat's have done, even if they don't like the Democratic party. The ACA currently has it's highest approval ever, because it's now part of society, and those that disliked it have forgotten the Muslim Kenyan passed it, they just know their sister can get Medicaid now, when she used to not be able too, or their kids can stay on their insurance through college.
Note, I'm not saying a Republican can never win. I think Trump has a 1 in 3 shot next year. But, Trump either talks a lot about the stuff where he disagrees with the unpopular stuff Republican's want to pass, or he says such insane stuff nobody believes he'll do it. Plus, most famous person since Eisenhower to run for POTUS. There's a reason why Trump can win in places, that Trump-adjacent candidates underperform, while 'normie' GOP politicians actually overperform - see Arizona.
I'm relatively plugged in to American politics, but probably not as much as an American, so I'll happily concede if you're sure about this, but aren't you getting this precisely backwards? Wasn't the entire point of Trumpism to ditch the free trade / free market parts of the platform pushed by establishment Republicans, in favor of economic interventionism?
Typically when progressives wanted to make the "Trumpists are disconnected from common voters" argument, they use all the anti-woke stuff as an example. Debatable of the sentiment is correct, but at least the example is in line with what is animating Trump supporters.
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