the awkward marriage of groups who agree on almost nothing except who they hate less.
means a voter coalition is a bloc of demographic or interest groups who band together to win elections, usually by ignoring their internal contradictions until the votes are counted.
from the term rose with mass-suffrage democracy, once parties realized no single class or region could win alone, so they started stitching together farmers, unions, churches, and city dwellers into fragile electoral quilts.
new deal coalition — fdr 1932-1968, unions, south, catholics, black voters
reagan coalition — 1980, evangelicals fused with fiscal conservatives and hawks
obama coalition — 2008-2012, young voters, minorities, and college-educated whites
india's nda alliance — 2014, bjp stitched regional parties across 20+ states