The Math of Politics

I'm beginning to think that people judge politicians by how far away they are from them in generally held beliefs. Think of the political spectrum as a number line with zero as the 'middle'. Which side is the positive side depends on the individual. Let's say 'Bob' in this example considers himself to be a moderate conservative. He agrees with a few traditionally liberal principles but with the conservatives for vast majority of the rest. So Bob might define his comfort zone from -1 to 5 (using a scale of -10 to 10). Since Bob identifies with the conservatives, the liberal portion of the scale is on the negative side. This gives three groups of people relative to Bob. If Bob feels that he has no beliefs in common with a candidate, he won't consider them at all. If there is some overlap then Bob will listen and consider. If a candidate's perceived beliefs fall entirely within the area that Bob defines as his own, then Bob will more then likely be an ardent supporter, feeling like he has found a candidate that understands him. The challenge is to keep from being blinded by the situation and keeping a pragmatic understanding of how people who don't share Bob's beliefs will react to the candidate. It also makes it easy to understand why candidates are always trying to include as widespread a group of beliefs as they can.