The reason that so many in this country continue to vote against their own economic interests, aside from the brainwashing done by Fox and other conservative media outlets, is pernicious racism. Not the obvious sort, but the sort that views Democrats and the government as giving free stuff to those others who haven’t worked for it.
Example, one of the sitters with my MIL in her assisted living facility is a single mother with a son in his last year of high school She resents it that her tax money is paying for free lunches for everyone (all the students in our public schools get free lunch) and especially the summer free lunch programs, while at the same time she has to pay for a parking space at his school, even when there are abundant and empty parking spaces. There is a certain logic to her complaints though I explained to her that the GOP led legislature has cut funding to public schools every year since the recession, so those schools have to find funding elsewhere. And feeing those who can least afford it, is the favorite tool in this state of the GOP. I told her the free lunches come from federal funds, not local dollars. She doesn’t buy my argument.