My Uber reductionist explanation.
I get you scared. You vote for the cure to what I'm scaring you on.
Most people, except the very scared, don't vote.
Republicans say "hell is coming unless you vote for me", which gets people scared and thus voting
Democrats, "well try our hardest to build helpful systems that make the middle class grow again" ...... People stop listening and don't vote.......
That's how
Fuck. 2020 got more people voting than any other presidential election in recent history and it STILL didn't break 50% of legal voters.
Damn. Beat me to it :)