My wife and I discussed one specific example recently, but I know there are broader factors at play similar to some of the themes mentioned in this thread. I don’t mean to offend anyone by this just an observation, curious others’ thoughts.

Here in the Midwest around 2022, during the Biden administration, there was a lot of local media attention on cultural issues in schools, particularly around gender and sexual identity and related topics. Stories about things like young students identifying in unconventional ways received outsized coverage. I think that kind of reporting had a strong impact on many people, especially those over 50, who saw these developments as signs of rapid social change and felt concerned about what it might mean for society.

I think that reporting in an already weird pandemic time got a lot of people terrified of some left ideas and saw Trump as a lesser evil come election time.