Originally a comment by iknklast on Don’t worry, be happy.

In my state, the voters voted for Medicaid expansion – yay! But…these same voters voted to retain all of the Republican incumbents who loathe Medicaid expansion with a visceral hatred that springs partially out of their hatred of taxes and partially out of their hatred for the poor. So will we actually gain the expansion voted for? Not if our governor (who just got reelected in spite of the fact that he is vile) has anything to say about it.

Don’t try to tell me Republican voters are voting how they are because they want a better life and believe the Democrats won’t bring that to them because the Democrats are only interested in “identity politics”. Don’t even try to tell me that. I know better. I live in the middle of red America, and I hear what my neighbors say. And it isn’t “I need a job”. They believe no one listens to them because there are other people that are demanding equal rights with them, and that sometimes (not often, but sometimes) get listened to and have gained a great deal from the days when said people (i.e. women and all non-white people) were unable to vote, work for pay, or even leave the grounds without permission. They are angry not that their kids can’t pray in school, since they can and all the parents actually know that, but that other people’s kids can’t be forced to pray, and pray to the “right” god. They are angry because the Democrats put up a black candidate for president, and got him elected, and then put up a woman for president who seemed to think she was entitled to run. They are angry because they are not recognized as the warrior kings they are, and are instead considered the equal of those they consider lesser, rather than being masters of those they consider lesser.

So they vote not for jobs, not for enfranchisement, not for anything that pundits claim they vote for, but instead they vote for hate.