I think most republican voters simply care more about “other people can’t get a free thing that I had to pay for” or “I don’t want universal healthcare because I’m healthy and I don’t need it”. Which are both incredibly selfish mindsets. The GOP knows about these mindsets and does everything they can to encourage them.

I think they now are so far gone that they find it easier to convince voters by spreading propaganda than it is to win people with good policies. I think part of it is that on the policy front, there’s stiff competition. But on the identity politics front, it’s not even a competition. The GOP is massively better at propaganda and identity politics. They know they’re better at it, which is why they’ve leaned so heavily into it while also having so little else to offer. Fixing problems often gets in the way of profit, so they don’t have an incentive to actually fix many problems (at least not for normal people).