You are right many of Trump’s supporters were not conservatives… Given the choice between Biden and Trump, conservatives overwhelmingly chose Trump.
The same is true of Fox hosts. Some are conservative, some were Trump “populists”, and a few were anyone but Trump.
Trump was a very complex candidate. When it came to the Supreme Court, he nominated Constitutionalists rather the conservative judges. This sat well with conservatives. And perhaps more than any other thing he did secured their vote.
When it came to economic policy his emphasis was on making America more competitive while securing more jobs and higher wages for the working guy.
Conservatives could embrace his policies because they focused on the “marketplace” rather than government programs as the vehicle to address social issues… but many blue collar Democrats could embrace his policies as they gave American workers a decided boost after suffering at the hands of outsourcing, globalization, and even illegal immigration (which boosted the supply of low wage workers). By boost, I mean an increase in median wages of $6,000 up to the pandemic.
As for evidence that the Republican party is becoming more racially diverse, the fact that nearly all the Republican gains in Congress were minority candidates, women, or veterans says a lot. Virtually none were traditional white males. Even in 2016, the majority of Republican candidates running for President where non white males. One would think that in a party of white men, the majority of candidates would be white men. In contrast, in the 2016 and 2020 election, the race came down to two old white men competing for nomination.
The Republican party is changing. It is not a conservative party anymore, even though it retains social conservatives and small business conservatives (big business and the wealthy have largely joined the Democrats forming the elite that control the party while the poor represent its rank and file).
This realignment of the two parties is going to play out pretty dramatically in the coming years. But nothing is monolithic. There are still a few moderate and conservative Democrats in the Democratic party and I have voted for conservative Democrats in the past. Though I think the left wing of the Democratic party is working to purge these members through the primary process.
And the Republican party still comprises “old line” Republicans as well as Trump Republicans. And though the efforts have been less obvious, I think the “old line” Republicans are likewise getting replaced with Republicans more in line with the blend of conservatism and populist ideology in the Trump Republican platform.
I do think more states need to allow independents to vote in open primaries, since the majority of voters now “identify” as independent. It is simply wrong not to give them input into who runs in November. With all this “noise” about voter suppression, the real voter suppression is occurring at the primary level. Only 15 states have open primaries and 9 states have closed primaries. The rest allow independents to but not registered party members to vote either way.
