We were told a decade ago that we would reach a tipping point

[TwilightZone]

6. We don't understand voter motivations anywhere near as much as we think we do.

They're not always rational, yet we try to apply rationality to them.

We insist that many are voting against their own best interests, but assuming that we know best what those interests should be is just presumptuous.

Voters and groups of voters aren't monolithic, and they don't all have the same reasons for voting. We try to make them fit in nice, neat boxes, yet every voter has their own unique combination of motives and issues they use to decide for whom to vote.

Making an attempt to better understand those motivations rather than just assuming we already know what they are should be a first step to better understanding the big picture.