While the Democratic coalition is definitely becoming more conservative in some ways, what has surprised me is how these conservative newcomers are much more open to left-wing policy ideas than you might expect.
For example if you look at ballot measures on income taxes, school funding, healthcare, or other tax and spending proposals you might expect an inverse correlation between support and income, but instead we have seen in the past decade that these conservative suburbs are much more open to taxes and government spending than lower income areas in rural or exurban regions.
Examples: Oklahoma Question 802 - most support came from higher income urban / suburban areas, not the rural or small town areas that are most likely to benefit from the Medicare expansion
Missouri Amendment 2 - similar Medicare expansion measure with similar patterns
Anecdotally I've noticed that many of these Romney-Clinton voters have shifted to the left on a lot of key issues with more openness to healthcare expansion, social services, education funding, and especially on social issues like anti-racism, lgbt support, even when they might be regular churchgoers. It's as if the Trump era accelerated cultural progressivism for some of these people because Trump (and the Republican party as a whole lately) has created such a strong foil.
That all being said - as we have seen with Democrats in power there is no stomach for significant policy changes on the economic from as we observed with the death of Build Back Better.
In what ways DO you think the Democratic coalition is becoming more conservative?
Openness to funding the military / funding war, policing speech, and free trade. Also generally less anti-corporate rhetoric.
Which is a shame, because the old bipartisan concensus was unequivocally right.
