Because liberalism typically doesn't sell in American presidential politics, liberal candidates tend to run as culturally conservative centrists.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There are conservative people in all colours in America.
By temperament and disposition and emotions, I'm a liberal; but in my beliefs about what's best for the country, I'm a centrist.
A liberal public is interesting to have as an audience. It is for that very reason that corporations make such an effort to ally themselves with cultural institutions.
It is a quirk of American culture that each generation of nonconservatives sees the right-wingers of its own generation as the scary ones, then chooses to remember the right-wingers of the last generation as sort of cuddly.
The people still get to choose whether they want to support conservatives or if they want to support Mr. Trump, whose record is not conservative.
People profess to have certain political positions, but their conservatism or liberalism is really the least interesting thing about them.
It's very rare that you have a liberal run as an unabashed liberal. They have to lie about it. They have to mask who they are. And in order for them to survive and thrive, they have to keep that up.
In the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, American voters were forced to choose between a liberal Democrat and weak establishment Republicans. Democrats won both times.
In the United States, commentators recognize that, generally speaking, most people who hold liberal positions over a range of issues will likely vote Democratic, while most people, again generally speaking, who hold conservative positions will vote Republican.
Liberalism is Rationalism in politics.