Why do you think (some) poor and working class white Americans vote against their own economic interests in every election? It's a phenomenon that has perhaps been exaggerated in its ubiquity, but it does certainly happen. If conservative Republicans only received votes from people their policies directly benefited, they would have trouble even getting elected selectman of a small town.
So we're left to wonder why a person who makes less than $27,000 a year and depends on programs like Medicaid, SNAP, Section 8, etc to get by will happily go out and vote for candidates who call him a "moocher", "parasite", and "taker" every two years. Are they distracted by "social issues" like the old bogeymen of gay rights, birth control, illegal immigrants, and "taking God out of our public schools"?
@redenigma This was the genius of Reagan's handlers, basically selling people on self-demonization.