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Notes -
This is sort of the most underrated thing about politics - for instance, in polling of the 2022 midterms, cancel culture and trans issues were among the things that GOP voters cared about least, let alone independent or democratic voters. So, why is it something consistently pushed by all sorts of right and centrist-leaning media, including the establishment and anti-establishment media?
Because it's something that effects college-educated right-leaning people in red areas, with a side dish of the occasional centrist getting upset at it. If you're a big state school graduate who now lives in the big urban area of your state, or a coastal area, but you're a conservative, of course you're upset about all this, and since you're more likely to be on Twitter, you'll post more about it. This becomes even more true when it's very right-wing people who have lots of clout on social media who live in insanely blue areas. Of course, say, some FOX News personality who lives in New York thinks the woke agenda out of control.
Now, I'm not saying some blue-collar worker in rural Alabama is pro-trans or thinks the 1619 project is great, it's that it's incredibly likely, despite occasional drummed stories about "50% of this class is now trans or non-binary", they likely have never heard of the 1619 project nor have their been more than maybe a handful of trans kids, if that, in the past decade. Now, immigration, or gun control, or abortion - that, they'll care about, because they believe it effects them.
The reality is if instead of spending tens of million (reportedly) on anti-trans ads this past cycle, if that money had gone into pretty bland 'hey, inflation is bad and crime is up' ads, Kevin McCarthy wouldn't have needed 18 rounds to become Speaker and Mitch might be Majority Leader again.
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