Do you think that's the reason? They're more likely to vote because the party abandoned its all too usual "Here's the candidate we like. Fuck you, you're voting like we tell you to because you have no choice lol." messaging.
Morale matters.
Do what the voters want and they'll vote for you. Not the ass-backwards "vote in perfect lockstep for us forever no matter what we do, and maybe someday we'll think about starting the process of evaluating giving tentative consideration to half a baby step towards something tangentially related to what you want, implemented over the course of 10 years" that was centrist conventional foolishness since at least 1992.