Very offhand take here, but I think it’s their way of coping with change that contradicts their indoctrination, and increasing economic precariousness that they feel but can’t understand within their framework.

They have been brought up wrapped in individualism that permeates every part of culture and thinking, and think an individual will save them. They want someone to bring back the past security they felt, and thus turn to people who represent the system they identify as their idea of what America is, which includes being a capitalist hack.

Identity politics, and the specific kind they gravitate to, is tied to the culture they’ve absorbed. Libs love stuff like the “melting pot” revisionism to feel good about a nation built on stolen land with stolen slaves. They have to rationalize their country, and some weird mutant idea of American social progress is the most they can do.

I consider liberals conservatives who just have some conscience because of all this. Some of them can be moved left, but some really are to their core invested in “America” that exists in their mind and the past, and not a better radically reshaped one the future. They love incrementalism because they’re just as scared of change as conservatives, but have a conscience that can be chipped away at on certain issues at certain points.

The fact that god is also mostly dead even in America for most people (for modern Christians etc.), also plays a role.