Many liberal Democrats (and Republicans for that matter) call themselves conservative because they don’t want to be identified as liberal. I remember Bill Clinton once identifying himself as a conservative.
If a pollster really wanted to know if someone was liberal or conservative, instead of simply asking the person to label themselves, they should include ten or twelve questions that would identify the person based on their actual beliefs rather than self identification.
“they should include ten or twelve questions...”
You nailed it. I used to spend a lot of time in West Virginia, traditionally a very Democratic stronghold. While the folks I know and love there aren’t fiscal conservatives, on social issues they are fairly conservative. Likewise, I have been to traditionally Republican areas where the folks were conservative on fiscal matters but on social issues ran pretty liberal. My only question - where exactly do you draw the lines? There are a lot of people out there who don’t fit neatly into a box. Just my thoughts.-—JM