The "coastal elites" they resent are made up by conservative media. No behavior changes by the yuppies can affect the ever-increasing resentment people feel in response to this sneering bully, because the bully is made up and the tendency of RW media to use ever-more-dire portrayals of supposed societal ills.

As an aside, I think the culture which produces this result is related to people in the US always thinking crime is increasing, regardless of actual crime trends.