There is evidence of your point in the 2012 election, Rove and the Romney wing of the GOP seem to have failed by not reaching the right of center character of the nation, and instead spitting in the face of it, rejecting it.
A different candidate, with different politics, would have destroyed Obama.
The character of the nation is most certainly not "right of center" from the perspective of a FR purist.
The vast majority of the people self-identifying as "conservative" in recent polls would be rejected by the RINO police.