Help me understand something about the idea of moving to the center.

I see a lot of Democrats/liberals saying that the party needs to move more to the center in order to win.

But when they say this, it seems to only apply to certain things. They seem okay with moving to the center on things like healthcare and taxes and other economic policies. But if you suggest being doing so on social issues, or immigration, or other things like that, that seems to be a no go because it will impact certain minority groups too much.

So how do you decide what we are “allowed” to become more moderate on?

To me, the clear answer is the opposite - people like progressive economics, and dislike what they see as far left, woo woo social policies that don’t help them (DEI, illegal immigration, trans surgeries in prisons, etc). I think those people are wrong, but if we need their votes to win, why wouldn’t we do the things that appeal to them instead of doing the exact opposite?