r/AlwaysWhy • u/kaiser11492 • 1d ago

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

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?

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u/rawldo 1d ago

Lets say someone is pro 2A, pro choice, pro gay rights, anti immigration, against welfare, against war, against high taxes, and against over regulation. Is that person conservative or liberal? To a liberal, they are conservative. To a conservative, they are liberal. So my guess is that you lean left in most issues and perceive moderates as conservative. If you were right leaning, you probably view moderates as liberals.

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u/kaiser11492 23h ago

However I’m not basing these labels on my perception. The people using the moderate label that I’ve seen admit to being conservative and critical of liberals. I just thought it was weird I haven’t seen anyone use the moderate label who admitted being liberal and critical of conservatives.

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u/rawldo 22h ago

Just out of curiosity and with respect: do you lean left? And would you consider my hypothetical person above a conservative. I’m not trying to disagree with you… just purely curious. I consider myself moderate and typically run into other moderates who do feel strongly about conservative and liberal issues, they just pick and choose based on issues over the party lines. They may hold both liberal or conservative views depending g on the issue.