One thing I will say for the conservative side is that even though we have our own set of sycophants, for the most part, we call bull when we see it and don't automatically agree with whoever we consider leadership. One of the reasons there is so much infighting on the R side of the aisle, IMO.
To tie into thoughts in another thread here, the difference between those who respect our Republic, and those who keep saying we're a mob rule democracy, where as long as 51% of people believe they can herd up, that they can also then push the rest of us around.
Secondarily, given the polled population, it's the peer pressure and being part of the popular crowd in college.