I think it’s very easy to just point at propaganda or a lack of effective outreach, but I think a big part is that we’re a low-trust society, and most people have a hard time believing that they won’t be excluded from the collective, because that’s not our experience elsewhere in life.

Also, fascism doesn’t call itself fascism. So the real question as most people perceive it is, “why is socialism scarier than conservativism”. We know it’s actually fascism, and thus know to fear it, but most don’t.

Lastly, I think the false narrative of meritocracism in capitalist/ fascist societies plays into the psychological bias where humans tend to perceive themselves as average or above average, and makes people vote for rigid hierarchy (where they all think they’ll be closer to the top than the bottom), against their own interest.