Conjecture at this point.
Fundamentally I think it it is difficult to represent a group you cannot relate to.
Secondly couple this with a tea party base I think pell grants and other educational opportunities/funding could be affected. A situation that disproportionately affects the middle and lower classes.
As an aside how does the party that nominated the former party boy, Everyman, reborn Christian, guy you can have a beer with to a elitist, dressage loving, Mormon, who you most assuredly cannot have a drink with. Just seems like a cosmic shift.