The answer is that such policies are more nuanced than just help or harm. Some people weigh effects differently than other people, leading them to believe that for their specific situation, one outweighs the other.
Completely agree. There are also people who would give everything and anything to be ideologically consistent - worse off on every metric, but right with themselves and the way they see the world. It can be very difficult to relate to them due to that very experiential chasm.
