Why do (usually conservative) Americans pronounce "conservative" with an /ɪ/ sound, like consyrvative?

Question

I have noticed this mispronunciation in post-1980 America.

People who take a little pride in their conservatism are almost intentionally pronouncing the word conservative¹ as if it were spelled consyrvative².

Here the affected “y” in consyrvative is not an “eh”³ sound, it’s like the “y”⁴ in the word Pyrrhic⁵.

It’s observable in both public (e.g. Clint Eastwood) and non-public figures.

What is this all about?

Is it simply a bit of social posturing of the type that shows in England when people say Indiar for India or idear for idea?

Or is there social signalling going on here, for example an ambitious man making a subtle pass at an obviously rich but conservatively dressed young woman?

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Footnotes

^{The following footnoted technical pronunciation transcriptions contain IPA notation for English. They are necessary so that we can talk about spoken sounds rather than about written letters, and so that they can be understood by an international audience and by native speakers whose native pronunciations differ subtly from one another’s.}

1. conservative: phonemic /kənˈsərvətɪv/, /kənˈsɚvətəv/;
                   phonetic [kʰənˈsɚvət̬ɨv], [kʰn̩ˈsɹ̩vədəv].
2. consyrvative: phonemic /kənˈsirvətɪv/, /kənˈsɪrvətəv/;
                   phonetic [kʰənˈsɪɹvət̬ɨv], [kʰn̩ˈsiɹvədəv].
3. “eh” + R: phonemic /ər/, /ɚ/;
                   phonetic [əɹ], [ɚ], [ɹ̩] of NURSE, SIR
                    — not the phonemic and phonetic /ɛ/, [ɛ] of DRESS, PET.
4. “y” + R: phonemic /ir/ or /ɪr/;
                   phonetic [iɹ] or [ɪɹ] of MIRROR, NEARER.
5. Pyrrhic: phonemic /ˈpɪrɪk/ /ˈpirək/;
                   phonetic /ˈpʰɪɹɪk/, /ˈpʰiɹək/.