What people think they are and how they act are two wholly different things. Also, if religion is very important to one he or she may classify themselves as conservative while on economic issues or the size of government they are liberal to very liberal. Depending upon which of the categories of religion, social issues, economics or size of government one considers the most important he or she may classify themselves as conservatives but at the voting polls they may be swayed by extraneous matters such as charisma.
We need to do a better job of making the connection between Judeo/Christian morality and the virtues of limited government and self-reliance.
The most important point we must make is that TAXATION IS NOT CHARITY. A lot of people feel that compassion and charity demand that they support liberal taxing and spending programs in order to support the less fortunate of society. We must explain to these people that voting for Democrats does not in any way discharge their responsibility to be charitable, and that government largesse hurts the poor far more than it helps them, by distorting the economy and supressing economic prosperity.
These people must also be made to understand that money raised from involuntary taxation can never be considered charity because the person who provided the money did not do so as a free-will offering. It is like thief stealing money from a rich man and giving it to a beggar. The thief is not noble, because his is a thief. And the rich man has not noble, because he has not done anything to help his fellow man. Furthermore, the rich man would now be inclined to keep his remaining money for himself, and thus his charitable inclinations are suppressed.
The more people understand that Big Government programs are destructive to the concept of Charity, which must be freely offered, the better conservatives will do.