Over the last week I could swear I've seen way more 
types suddenly throwing around the word troglodyte left right and centre
In the boat of a million years by poul anderson. Published in 1989 the protagonist is said to have troglodyte politics by his lib girlfriend. So i think the conservatives may self identify as this because they put more enphasise in the ancient or traditional implications of the word rather than on its unncouth ones.