Published earlier in Jan 2015 in my earlier Blog – Ported here in Aug 2017:

We always wonder during elections why the middle class generally vote for candidates with conservative values (right side of the aisle) while the wealthy typically vote for liberal (left leaning) candidates. We believe that this occurs because middle class voters identify more with parties with conservative values who are typically socially conservative with pro-life, pro 2nd Amendment, anti-abortion, religious with family values agenda while wealthy voters tend to gravitate towards liberal parties who have a more “progressive” agenda with a pro-choice, anti 2nd Amendment, pro-abortion and non-religious stance.

However, when it comes to Economics and Fiscal Policy, Right Wing (conservative) parties tend to favor the rich and be more less regulation, free enterprise, free trade, anti-Union, pro Wall Street with less support for Social programs such as Medicaid, Obamacare, Minimum Wage upward revision etc. while Left Wing (Liberal / Progressive) Parties tend to be more middle class centric with pro-Union, restrictions on free trade, anti Wall Street with more support for Social Programs such as Medicaid, Obamacare, higher Minimum wage etc. When one looks at this set of policies, it would seem to make more sense for the Middle Class voters to pick Liberal (Left Wing) candidates to take advantage of financial benefits while Affluent should be voting for Conservative (Right Wing) candidates since they will gain the most financially with less regulation and less taxation at higher income levels!

But based on voting patterns, in our opinion, people vote against their economic self interest since Social Issues and Values appears to trump Economic Policies. Also, in our opinion, the very Affluent tend to vote for Socially Liberal Parties, due to a sort of a Guilt Complex related to their financial success, and subconsciously want to share in their good fortune, by being ready to pay more tax which could help fund more social programs.

Therefore, we believe that Social Issues appears to be more important to voters when compared to Fiscal / Economic Issues. Consequently, it is our opinion, that this fact may need to be factored in by conservative parties to come up with a more tailored agenda to win elections in the future on the lines of the “compassionate conservative” agenda for late 1990s.