Consider that the current president campaigned on raising taxes, and was elected anyway.
Perhaps a lot of R voters didn't have a problem with that because they somehow assumed that enacting a bunch of tariffs wouldn't result in higher prices for them.
To call it a "campaign to raise taxes" I think assumes voters are more informed and open minded they they really are.
My boomer parents genuinely believed Trump had and would continue to reduce their taxes. When confronted with tariff facts they counter with more spin, like "he's just negotiating" or "it'll make the economy so much stronger".
Before I learned it was an infamous political meme immortalized by the fallout from WWII, I heard that claim recited in utter sincerity in the 1990s by a woman who had been a teenager in Italy during that period. Even after what happened with Mussolini, she still believed.
I mean the Republican part is now the party of the poor and working class while the Democrats are the educated and rich. As in who votes for them not necessarily who they pay lip service too. For example the Democrats still deeply message on them being the party of the working class even as the working class no longer votes for them.
If you view this around identity then its pretty straightfoward.
Republicans are the party of the dominant group and maintaining their power. Democrats are the party of the non-dominant groups and speading power across groups. Everything else is just chips to push these two agendas. And I think this is why Republicans will have a long-term advantage. The dominant group is by definition the group in power and its the group that people eventually want to be in (see Hispanics). No one wants to stay in the out-group.
What does this mean? The majority of people, regardless of 'group', are facing similar issues. I think this sort of rhetoric, alongside the endless hyperbole, is a big part of why the Democrat party is facing substantial difficulties.
I also think this claim is falsifiable by the homogeneity of party views. The stereotype of a Republican is pro-gun, anti-abortion, yeehaw. In reality? Only 24% of Republicans completely oppose abortion [1] and only 27% think gun laws should be less strict. [2] The party has become extremely heterogeneous. By contrast, stereotypes on Democrat views are somewhat more accurate with 86% thinking gun laws should be more strict, and 56% supporting abortion at any time, for any reason.
Were the Republican party supporting some specific 'group', you would expect to see a general homogeneity of views. And were the Democrat party supporting a large number of otherwise relatively independent 'groups', you would expect to see a general heterogeneity of views. Instead, we see something much closer to the exact opposite.
This is consistent with my take. Most positions don’t matter. They’re side issues. The only thing that truly matters in party politics is identity. And the group that Republicans support the most are straight white males. That’s the in-group. All the other issues you mention are just side quests.
I applaud you having the dignity to define 'group' instead of weaseling around it. But the issue you immediately run into is that it's not like non-white individuals are homogenous, yet the Democratic party's polling on most issues is. In any case, society isn't buying this stuff.
For instance the most recent election was decided by the economy. People that thought the economy was excellent/good voted for Harris by a margin of about 92%. Those who thought it was mediocre/poor voted for Trump by a margin of 70%. [1] And it turned out that way more people thought the economy was bad than those that thought it was good.
This led to the best result ever for a Republican for both blacks and hispanics, with Trump outright winning Hispanic males. All the while the Democrat party flailed about with this identity stuff that not only do people mostly not care about, but that also pushes away folks like me that are liberal but vehemently against political correctness, identity politics, etc.
I think it's more about messaging rather than reality. Only one of these parties fights the safety nets, is against raising the minimum wage and cuts taxes for the rich, and that's the one that's positioned itself as the "party of the poor".