Htmldon is dead right: Democrats have a huge perception problem among the people referred to in the OP.
Many self-described conservatives consider the American left-wing to be elitist, out-of-touch, and contemptuous of ordinary people and their values.
My quote of the day "False Populism." A lot of older, socially conservative whites feel that Social Secuirty, Disability, Medicare, and farm subsidies are "getting what they deserve/earned", but an unemployment check, Section 8 housing, and AFDC are for "lazy bums who don't want to work." Yep, there's the 1% vs. the 99%. But in that 99% are the "Bootlicking 40-50%" who don't know tax policy and see any rate increase as affecting them and any spending as helping "those (minorities, welfare queens, slackers) people who don't deserve it." And they won't increase taxes on the rich because "they earned it." I'm not going to say all of it is inherit racism, but a lot of it is. Some of it's intergenerational.
