That is a great question E. I think it has a many pronged answer.
What we are seeing in polls, is not an accurate reflection, necessarily of what % of people are thinking what. Polls still rely, often on landlines at times or on people actually answering their phones. Many people, especially younger people do not answer their phones if they don't recognize the number. This can often skew the poll with many older people. I'm "old" but I rarely answer the phone if I don't know who it is.
Also, I think many polls are conducted with registered voters so that limits the people in your sample. There are people who for whatever reason can't be bothered with, don't see the need for, don't think voting will do any good so never register and never plan to vote and we may not know what their feelings are about our current state.
A third contributor to the current state of affairs, I believe, is that whole think that maybe LBJ mentioned about if you tell the poorest white man that he's better than the man of color than you can have him on your side (or something kind of along those lines). The Republicans have unfortunately injected this into our nation's bloodstream. I work with families that have so little money, they have to hunt rabbits and kill chickens they raise to feed their family of 5 kids (2 under 3 yrs) with a dad that works a good steady job. Mom depends on the child tax credit that republicans voted against so they no longer have it and it is really hurting them. This family lives in a house that I would not want to be in after dark because it is so run down and I'm sure full of bugs that stay hidden when I'm there during the day. Despite reminding mom that Child Tax Credit is due to Democrats and that republicans voted against and all of the other info like special education programs and Medicaid which her family relies on are supported by Dems but not Reps, she is still go Tangerine Weirdo. He would vomit if he had to go into her house. He would spit on them. But he's made them think they're better than the immigrant so despite voting against their own interest, mom and dad will. This is not an isolated incident. I see this day in and day out in my job. I just want to say to my families "That man would rather spit in your face than lift a finger to help you, but yet you give him your complete loyalty." Yep. Because he tells them they're "better than immigrants." There is also, baked into that, a great deal of systemic racism, of course.
Anyway, there may be many more "good" people than the polls are showing; but if not, it's because many people have been brainwashed to think that their job is to other people they see as "beneath them."
