You can't be popular during an election! Then people might expect stuff from you. And what could be more disgusting than poor people wanting stuff from their government? If they like you, you're doing something wrong. They should only hold their nose and vote for you after doing moral three-variable calculus.

Literally what is preventing democrats from both being the (in their mind) smart educated choice but at the same time using populism to garner even more support? Like is it just some bizarre self imposed allergy to populist rhetoric?