That is what makes the Tea Party so interesting as an American political phenomena - really its only precedent was the ‘Know Nothings’ as far as starting to create a structure outside the control of the ‘insiders’ who more or less run both parties.
Exactly the same dynamics as on the left. There are those who will stay home if the candidate is not ideologically pure enough and the pragmatists who regard even the worst sell out as being better than the other side winning.
A lot of people on both the left and right believe -with good reason- that there is a cabal of super rich and super connected individuals for whom the letter after the person’s name means nothing.
there are more Democrats, but Republicans vote in higher numbers. If the Democrats get out the vote, they win, barring an exceptional communicator like Ronald Reagan or an extremely poor one like Jimmy Carter.
Fall in love vs fall in line, as my old prof said.
But then I’m a cynic; I trained and worked as a pollster and view the whole thing through the spectrum of game theory rather than ideology. I’m a conservative in the sense that the Constitution is a well designed set of procedures for bringing the greatest good to the greatest number at the lowest cost by limiting government, government being inherently immoral and inefficient. But when polling season rolled around I was going to do the most accurate work for whoever would pay me best; ideology not mattering - only how accurately you nail the numbers.
This is where I differ. Its the "purists" in both parties are the ones who have been most likely to get out and vote. Always has been.
Historically its been the "independents" - middle class low info voters - who unless given a clear reason to vote tend stay home.
For example, ever since the republican party ceased being the party of 'ideological' Reagan and became the 'pragmatic' party of Bush, the Reagan Democrats have migrated back to their sofas, or worse, back to the democrat party.
Its the GOP's job to win them back. But they are unable because they really do not believe - never did believe - in the conservatism as Reagan expoused.