It would be more accurate to say that "politicians move to the right to win the general election." Hence you see Barack Obama moving right, and John McCain moving further right, both in an apparent attempt to appeal to the Republican base.
...the McCain adviser said the campaign will target male and female blue-collar white Democrats, a group viewed by Republicans as Obama's soft spot. "They already sense that [Obama] may be too liberal," the adviser added. "They tend to also agree with McCain on the war and on social issues and we'll have to satisfy them that McCain agrees with them on the economy." "The bulk of the Democrats you would try to appeal to are not Harvard-educated lawyers who are feminists. They're working class Democrats that you have more of a shot at getting. And the core of that appeal is social conservatism, right to life, Second Amendment, and obviously national security," Donatelli said.
"They already sense that [Obama] may be too liberal," the adviser added. "They tend to also agree with McCain on the war and on social issues and we'll have to satisfy them that McCain agrees with them on the economy."
"The bulk of the Democrats you would try to appeal to are not Harvard-educated lawyers who are feminists. They're working class Democrats that you have more of a shot at getting. And the core of that appeal is social conservatism, right to life, Second Amendment, and obviously national security," Donatelli said.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/030 8/9229_Page2.html
Certain groups of Democrats are cross-pressured? Yeah, I'm aware of that, but Barack Obama will never out-Republican a Republican on those issues. Obama's problem with blue-collar voters is not that he is too liberal on social issues, it is that he is too conservative on economic issues.
Granted many of blue-collar voters are Democrats, so my "Republican base" crack was simplistic, but the point is that both Obama and McCain have chosen to fight on right-wing ground, and they are both moving to the right, not to the center.
He may have to tread into the conservative territory in order to win the GE
Twenty-four percent (24%) of the nation's voters are both fiscally and socially conservative. Twenty percent (20%) are both fiscally and socially moderate. Fifteen percent (15%) of all voters are fiscally moderate and socially liberal. Two groups of voters each include 10% of the voting population--those who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate along with those who are fiscally moderate and socially conservative.* Nine percent (9%) are fiscally and socially liberal.*
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_conte nt/politics/election_20082/2008_presiden tial_election/daily_presidential_trackin g_poll
