Except Democrat politicians didn't generally run on those issues. Kamala Harris' policy positions, such as they were, were almost all about "kitchen table issues" such as what you mentioned.
It's really down to the fact that the Right has been able to harness grievance through various media channels, and to shape a narrative that's portrayed Democrats as being more extreme than they actually are.
They don't necessarily have to "run on" those issues, but they give lip service to those issues, while not offering anything meaningful on the ones people actually care about.
For example, Gretchen Whitmer's economic policies were some unremarkable and unmemorable compared to the run of the mill Midwestern Democratic politicians...but what people do remember?
Her saying "Menstruating Michiganders" (instead of just saying "women") as to not offend college kids
Her locking everyone down in her state (while she and her husband went to their vacation property to go have fun on a boat)
Her commenting about the anti-lockdown protestors, saying they "represent the worst of America", then a month later going out and participating in BLM protests.
Harris had a different issue...
1) She didn't just focus on the economic issues (and the ones she did focus on were either watered down or didn't resonate, hence the reason so many major unions declined to make an endorsement, breaking a long tradition of endorsing the democratic ticket)
2) With the social issues, she was trying to thread the needle and play "political chameleon" depending on the audience. Sometimes she was pro-law enforcement, sometimes she went the other way... she was pro-Israel when spending in front of certain audiences, but then would flip to be sympathetic to Gazans when she was in certain parts of Michigan or on a college campus.
The semfor article I provided sums it all up pretty nicely... It was not a small survey, we're talking about over a hundred thousand people interviewed over a period of six months, that's a pretty nice sized sample.
What they found was that a ticket that:
- Included some popular measures from left-leaning economic populism (paid family leave, expanding Medicaid, increasing the federal minimum wage)
- Strong borders and safe communities
- Ditching some of the "woke" stuff
....would be a ticket that would be pretty popular with over 70% of American voters.
Why do you think Bernie is/was so popular? (even quite a few of the blue collar Trump voters were Bernie supporters in the democratic primary)
He checks all 3 of those boxes, he pitches some popular economic ideas, he still acknowledges the need for strong borders and security, and he rarely talks about the other "woke" stuff.
I think it was on his appearance on Bill Maher when Bill asked him official position on one of the trans issues, and he said something to the effect of, "I don't have one, that's not my area of focus, I'm more concerned about getting people healthcare"
