It sure isn't a Rep/Dem thingy. It's just that Reps call for simple 'solutions' by making up imaginary monsters and blaming them. They can't handle the truth (or at least their voters can't), which often is complex, ambivalent and uncertain. Better to believe that the 'what I cannot understand' is the enemy and that a strong daddy will keep me safe. Conservative = keep things as they are, new stuff/change is scary.