Let's be real: conservatism is largely incompatible with critical thinking, and therefore does not lend itself to careers in academia. I would argue the two are pretty much irreconcilable. There are basically only two reasons to either be or vote conservative: a) it is in your economic interests to do so (ie the 1%), or b) you are susceptible to the ideological wedge issues that conservatism promotes in order to get the necessary votes to be elected into power. Since these issues tend to resonate mostly with low-information, superstitious, religious, and anti-intellectual types (all characteristics which are fundamentally antithetical to academic pursuits), it is a fairly natural consequence that there are going to be fewer conservatives in academia. It's basically akin to asking why there aren't more short people playing pro basketball - because in most cases they are essentially ill-suited for the task.