See my other comment. I think that wall of doubt is consciously or subconsciously knowing that if they agree with you, have a realization, and their thinking changes, they will stick out and face getting that same cold shoulder from their friends, family, and community forever. Peer pressure is very real, especially in rural places where there aren’t too many peers to choose from.

I grew up around and still live with these people. Let me tell ya how they think: They don’t. They don’t even really know what a liberal is.

To them a liberal is something other than them. And the ingroup they’ve spent their whole lives trying to fit into says that’s bad, so they are against liberals and everything they do and say and want. But so is everyone they know, so they’ll oppose liberals even louder and more extreme, in a bid to get noticed by their peers at work, church, family, and party.

And of course they’re right, liberals are shit. But they don’t know why, because again they Do. Not. Know. What. A. Liberal. Is.

And if they ever figure it out and outgrow the childish mentality of opposing without understanding, they will be outcast from their friends, family, and community. And that is the fear that keeps them lockstep in line, voting for the apocalypse.

In America at least, wealth mobility has been terrible historically. ie. If you were born poor you’re more likely to die poor. Born rich and you’re not likely to lose it. Despite all the data against it, poor people are still sold the American dream. This is a contradiction.

Leftists would see the poor as powerless against a system and society that set them up to fail, and aim to change the aspects of society that forces them to be poor, while others profited and thrived off of their labor.

Conservatives would (if you could read their minds at least, they know their thoughts are awful enough to keep to themselves) see the poor as powerless in the sense that they couldn’t help themselves and are therefore somehow not worthy of a dignified life.

And the fence sitters will allow half assed bandaids like welfare, Medicaid, and food stamps. And when the conservatives say they need to cut taxes for the rich, centerists will happily axe the bandaids, because they didn’t solve the core problems forcing people to be poor (and they were never designed to.)