I'm not saying political allegiance falls along socioeconomic lines. Obviously it doesn't. I'm saying widening inequality erodes public trust in the various institutions of society. In the absence of a common sense of national purpose, people find whatever they can to put their faith in.

Ramaswamy can't do anything about that. He doesn't represent a change in thought. In fact he's going out of his way (including contradicting things he's said in the past) in order to reassure GOP primary voters that he would be Trump 2.0.

From what I gather from his speeches and ads, he wants desperately to offer a unifying sense of national purpose, but the content of that vision owes so much to right-wing cultural values and grievances that it can't possibly have any appeal beyond maybe a third of the population. He's no more a unifier than Trump was, and for the same reasons.