Our last popular President came from California and he was not conservative when he was governor of California, he had to govern according to the State which was already more liberal than the rest of the nation. What makes us think Rudy wouldn't be more moderate when he had the whole country to consider instead of uber-liberal NYC?
I think the secret of Rudy's appeal is that he is not viewed as strident.
He simply is not an "ideologue".
Personally, I prefer a conservative "ideologue" over a "moderate" any day, but Rudy does say very clearly that he would appoint judges like Alito (whom he knows), Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia. In fact he has stated clearly that abortion laws should be left to the states and their legislatures - - that is, he has no problem with Roe being overturned.
On most other "hot button" issues, Rudy absolutely fails to scare me. Rudy can't do a stinking thing about guns and homos - - that stuff is still left to the Congress. Some people act like a President is a king or something.
Regards,
LH