That’s because liberalism isn’t a halfway point between socialism and conservatism it is, to misquote Stalin, fascism with a happy face sticker on it.
Most “western” countries’ governments have spent the last ~100 years waging outright war on socialism through coups, assassinations, imprisonments, and propaganda.
Political (and historical) education has been hacked away so much that most people couldn’t give a coherent definition of “socialism” anyway - and socialist policies poll extremely well if you short-circuit the propaganda by not mentioning the forbidden s-word.
That’s because liberalism isn’t a halfway point between socialism and conservatism it is, to misquote Stalin, fascism with a happy face sticker on it.
Most “western” countries’ governments have spent the last ~100 years waging outright war on socialism through coups, assassinations, imprisonments, and propaganda.
Political (and historical) education has been hacked away so much that most people couldn’t give a coherent definition of “socialism” anyway - and socialist policies poll extremely well if you short-circuit the propaganda by not mentioning the forbidden s-word.