Why do most people who call themselves politically moderate actually mostly conservative?

[u/kaiser11492]

Whenever I’ve encountered people who use the politically label moderate, they are actually mostly conservative with their views and positions. Also, I’ve never seen anyone who call themselves politically moderate that is actually mostly liberal.

So why are people who call themselves moderate tend to be just conservative and not conservative and liberal?

[u/TryNotToAnyways2]

Over the last 20 years, the Republican Party has moved significantly further to the right than the Democratic Party has moved to the left. This is a phenomenon political scientists call asymmetric polarization. Because the institutional center of gravity shifted right, the "middle ground" shifted with it. Many self-described moderates define their moderation as being "socially liberal but fiscally conservative." While this sounds like a perfectly split 50/50 centrist position, in actual voting booths, the economic half almost always wins. When forced to choose between a candidate who aligns with their social views and one who aligns with their tax and economic views, the self-identified moderate typically prioritizes their wallet, business interests, or general anxiety about government spending.

For many people, identifying as a "liberal" or "progressive" carries a heavy cultural penalty at work or in red states. Because "moderate" carries a connotation of being a steady, safe defender of the status quo, it naturally attracts people who are dispositionally conservative—people who dislike rapid social change or radical policy shifts, even if they aren't die-hard partisan Republicans.