“but then why believe any of the “flip-flops” or any position taken because they are just speeches or words tailored to a specific moment or audience? The decline in confidence in government is partially due to the view that the voters are routinely deceived.”
They make those statements for the same reason that TV is filled with commercials that any appropriately cynical(logical) person would easily see to be hyperbole at best (and are usually pure B.S.)
Those on the extremes care about the issues. the huge chunk in the middle will often vote on emption, sound bites and/or appearance. At least that is my observation and explanation for the ‘run to the middle’
....oops, I meant “often vote on emotion”