there are well-educated fiscally conservative republicans that fundamentally believe that the inefficiencies of government on balance outweigh the benefits large government might provide. In my experience these republicans often
1) oppose the Bush tax cuts
2) support the notion of a heavy petroleum (gas) use tax
3) believe in state support of education
4) believe in the abolition of govt guarantees in all their forms (FHA, student loans, etc) believing that these things create artificial price bubbles by creating unbalanced demand
5) oppose regulation in all its forms when it aims to shape markets
6) believe in local control of land (have issues with the BLM, FS etc)
7) oppose government intervention in all matters "social" (reproduction, affirmative action)
believe in things like the Clean Water Act but hate bureaucracies like the EPA
9) believe in zero/near zero corporate tax ("double taxation" being the bugaboo, taxing the corporation and then taxing the dividends again)
They exist, there are many.
Regarding trump and the low information Republican voter, it is rather confusing. KY and WV, states with massive poverty, states with third world econcomies (based almost entirely on the use and price of commodities like coal), fully cogent of the fact that a decent dose of union rights and progressive taxation would serve them well ... but somehow almost revel in their poverty. Those are hard to figure, but the rest are the folks the GOP managed to dupe: unions are bad, govt is a corrupt conspiracy, if it weren't for immigrants we would all somehow be rich. These folks don't see distribution of wealth, don't see rising productivity in the face of falling incomes, they just don't get it. It seems the chances are good that they become non-voters again over time, they were non-voters before the Nixon coalition and the Reagan bolstering of it, but they are not going to get their red meat, their situation is not going to improve, and they are not going to get their candidate .... they are going to get Romney v2.0 (Rubio).
I see the country moving left. I see many of these folks eventually voting with the left. It is just a matter of a more articulate leader. HRC is a tired old bag of "New Democrat" thinking (the whole bunch are largely DINOs). Bernie is too class warfare sloganesque. Somebody will come along and clarify the distinction between corporations and government and workers, see the government as an extension of "the people" that the clear stated (Jefferson) purpose of government is to stand for the people in opposition to 1) the church and 2) the corporation.
Once the dust settles, the low information voter leaves, the social issue voter leaves, and the "moderate republican" will once again take hold of the republican party (read Clinton and that ilk changes registration). The Republican party becomes a coalition of larger government pro-corporate (Clinton, Bush I) and smaller government pro-corporate (Mark Cuban) and the other side becomes a true labor party and abandons its "moderate" any trade is good trade, deregulated markets that Clinton and Bush I represent.
Trumps folks go home a sulk.
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