It isn't that surprising. Right wing propaganda is so pervasive in our society. If you go on YouTube right now you'll probably be recommended to some right wing grifter with a million views. The algorithms seem to favor right wing content and it has polluted the minds of so many people. There's people in my own personal circle whose brains have been fried due to absorbing so much right wing content.
Just a week ago I spoke with some random sister who brought up Candace Owens and said she can "see if from her perspective". This is a women who probably never had an educated opinion on anything. Most people don't have the political foundation to discern the information being fed to them. The right wing in this country has done a masterful job exploiting the ignorance of Americans.
Most Americans aren’t reading Gramsci, W.E.B. Dubois, Baldwin, or Parenti before entering the workforce.
But they are inundated with liberal, conservative/fascist media.
No space for socialist or social democratic thought. No surprise the effects it has on policy: