What you miss is that the individual Democrat or Republican isn't the real issue. It's where the party as a whole is headed. The Democrats are racing to the radical Left. The older Republicans like McCain, Romney, Cheney, etc., still think they can negotiate with a Democrat party that no longer believes in negotiation. The result has become an increasing number of people in the Center and on the Right have moved their support towards Republicans willing to fight the Democrats rather than negotiate with them.
The Democrat (Leftist) response to that is not to try and engage in debate or compromise but to shift to ad hominem, insults, and lies to smear their opponents as completely and thoroughly as they can all the while defending their own positions mostly by trying to discredit the opposition.
Some examples:
Socialism is brought up. The Left will say stuff like, What's wrong with helping people? They will then attack the opposition relentlessly, You hate people! You don't care about others! that sort of thing.
On identity politics, the Left couches their defense in terms of the opposition being racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. It's a case of smearing the opposition as haters rather than doing anything to bolster their own position.
The Woke and cancel culture are just other forms of attack on the opposition. They do nothing to explain, rationalize, or support their own positions on anything.
Even Maher will get this sort of pushback from the Left simply for not wholeheartedly and completely agreeing with them. Putting in a statement like "That's their view..." and giving the opposition to the Left even a tiny bit of wiggle room is not acceptable to the totalitarian impulses of the Left.
For the non-Left, the result is they will vote for virtually anyone not on the Left. For the non-Left, it's a case of At least that guy (the non-Leftist) isn't a totalitarian asshole bent on taking everything I own and putting me in prison for opening my mouth...
The Left never gets it. They never see they are their own worst enemy and the harder they push, the harder the pushback becomes.