maybe a good analogy for why people vote against their own best interests?

[Kaleva]

51. Most progressives have empathy for others. When they hurt, we hurt.

I find it very hurtful when children are the victims of gun violence or just because the gun wasn't properly secured. I think of a probable Trump supporter whose 3 year old was killed when the child found a gun in the closet of a family friend who was staying over. The father stressed that guns were not to blame.

Trump supporters, regardless of financial situation or level of education, would like to see a women's right to chose heavily restricted or even banned.

"The Mythology Of Trump’s ‘Working Class’ Support
His voters are better off economically compared with most Americans."

"The median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000, based on estimates derived from exit polls and Census Bureau data. That’s lower than the $91,000 median for Kasich voters. But it’s well above the national median household income of about $56,000. It’s also higher than the median income for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters, which is around $61,000 for both."

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-mythology-of-trumps-working-class-support/

"Among people who said they voted for Trump in the general election, 35 percent had household incomes under $50,000 per year (the figure was also 35 percent among non-Hispanic whites), almost exactly the percentage in NBC’s March 2016 survey. Trump’s voters weren’t overwhelmingly poor. In the general election, like the primary, about two thirds of Trump supporters came from the better-off half of the economy."

https://www.nationalmemo.com/data-show-most-trump-voters-were-middle-income-not-working-class/?cn-reloaded=1