Others have posted some well-reasoned replies. I agree with them.

Anecdotally, I recall my autistic friends in school and the insane crap they had to contend with from bullies. For some reason, bullies can smell the neurodivergent a mile away and zero in like a laser-guided bomb. Perhaps it’s the awkward social cues, or simply that they tend to be socially isolated. Either way, the consensus was basically “autistic = good target.”

These same people are now all grown up and vote.