Much ink and many pixels have been devoted to deciphering why so many working-class Americans vote for Republican politicians who espouse and enact policies that damage the economic interests of these same working-class Americans. This phenomenon was noted a decade ago in Thomas Frank's "What's The Matter With Kansas". I believe part of the answer is in the fact that Republicans have devised a way to misdirect the sense of iniquity that many working people rightly feel away from those who are perpetrating the iniquity.
I live in a state (Oregon) that not only re-elected all its congressional Democrats but also increased the Democratic majority in the state legislature in 2014. Despite the blue nature of the population we have no shortage of right-wing talk radio. There is one community supported FM station in Portland, the venerable KBOO, that provides left-wing talk, but AM talk radio is a mixture of sports, religion, and conservative opinion. As I drive home from work, I sometimes tune in to one of these stations following the counsel of Sun Tzu who stated that knowledge of one's adversary is key in attaining victory. The host I hear is syndicated from Houston, Texas and is an overt racist.
This person posits a society where black people overwhelmingly are idle, violent, and irresponsible parents. In this imagined world the men loaf on the corner drinking beer all day and by night sire children with multiple women that they refuse to support. These men are able to do this because they receive welfare taken from the wages of the hard-working listener. Despite the fact that Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, as the name implies, is not available for single men and is temporary and requires participants to work, the host maintains this fiction with a straight face.
I believe part of the problem is that in most cities one can see people not at work during traditional daytime working hours and assume they are idlers. Also, during a trip to the grocery store one will sometimes observe another customer paying with an EBT card. These are observations in the daily life of a working person. What is not seen is the corporate welfare that dwarfs what is going to individuals. Working people know that they are not getting the benefits of increased productivity but they are being told to blame the wrong people. Pickpockets use a distraction to divert the mark's attention while they steal. The Republicans in office and their media allies are using the same tactics. Here's George Carlin explaining it for us.