Of course they do, but somehow the Reps seem to be able to turn it to their advantage, while the Dems dont.
It's very easy to appeal to hate and fear. All the Republicans have done for ages is "Your problems are due to <insert boogeyman here>, vote for us and we'll destroy them!" If you have a real bad guy, like Hitler, well that's all well and good, but otherwise just make something up. There's a recycled list that is used, with old chestnuts like illegals and commies, and new ones like trans, BLM, "Woke!" and kneeling football players. All coming to destroy your way of life!
The Democrats can say, we are opposed to people that fear and hate monger, but that's a bit too nuanced for much of the American public. Lay out your infrastructure bill or start explaining how the wealth gap is hurting average people etc etc and they'll just switch the channel back to the WWE after 10 seconds with glazed eyes. Smash bad guys, now that's something to get behind!
There's a good reason the GOP wants to gut public education. Free thinkers are bad for them.