Good post
I’d like you add a few things here.
1. Those who claim to be moderates, usually side one way or another. Judging by Beer’s brother’s age, race, education level, and geography, we can make pretty accurate assumptions about which side he usually sides with despite identifying as a “moderate.”
2. Republican moderates typically identify the far left as the mainstream Democratic Party while ignoring the extremists from their own party. You see this all the time with Republican moderates who are “fed up” with AOC and Bernie Sanders, ignoring the fact that the more moderate Biden is more aligned with the mainstream of his party. Meanwhile, these Republican moderates will ignore extremists like Nunes, Trump, Gym Jordan, Steve King, and associate Romney and McCain with being the true voices of the Republican Party.
3. Polarization is not equal. We see asymmetrical polarization with the right wing becoming increasingly offensive to most Americans and increasingly extreme with both its rhetoric and attitudes towards democracy. It’s not a conservative worry anyway, it’s a reactionary party that really seems to have lost its faith in democracy.