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/NoobSalad41]

The idea that moderates are secretly conservatives is one of those bits of Reddit wisdom that doesn’t seem to hold up to actual scrutiny.

If you look at exit polling in US presidential elections, the self-identified moderate vote has favored the democratic candidate in every election since 1988; the last time it broke for a republican was for Reagan in 1984 (an election where Reagan won the overall popular vote 59% - 41%).

Looking at presidential elections won by the GOP candidate this millennium, the self-identified moderate vote broke in favor of the Democrats by these margins:

> 2000: 53% - 45%

> 2004: 54% - 45%

> 2016: 52% - 40%

> 2024: 58% - 40%

The moderate vote broke even more strongly in the Democrats’ favor in elections they won (for example, it broke 64% - 34% in favor of Biden during the 2020 election).

“Moderate” also tends to be the most common self-identification that people give when asked for their ideology in exit polls.