Liberal and conservatism are also country specific. Even liberals in the USA didn't support gay marriage till recently. Canadian liberals sorted that issue out a decade ago.

If I look at viewers of Fox News, and I have had the tragedy of meeting several, then conservatism in the US is going very strong. they do use liberal as a pejorative.

And I lived in a small city in Alberta and found many conservatives there. Again, still going strong in rural Canada too.

And the intellectual heartland of the west, its universities, are liberal. As they have always been. The divide in the US is more urban versus rural, than the South versus the North. The urban areas are liberal, and the rural areas are conservative. In California and in Alabama.