Sunstein and Thaler had a great term for this in Nudge: "pluralistic ignorance".

    An important problem here is pluralistic ignorance – that is, ignorance, on the part of all or most, about what other people think. We may follow a practice or tradition not because we like it, or even think it defensible, but merely because we think that most other people like it.

The book mentions men in Saudi Arabia (I think) who in private supported more freedoms for women but in public expressed the opposite because they thought other men were more conservative when it came to women's rights.

I would argue most voters aren’t conservative or liberal. They tend to independently evaluate topics and come to an opinion regardless if it aligns to the left or right. So overall, they are kind of in the middle.

And beyond that, most are politically apathetic, only care about local issues and can be swayed either way depending on circumstances and messaging.

What the media covers is the 5% of voters and politicians at the fringe because it gets clicks and sells ads.

Coming from "the conversation" I can't really take this too seriously. It would be like Ann Coulter claiming that the studies she's cherry picked show that most women oppose legal abortion.