As a public service, I will divert our attention from “Palinpalooza” towards a provocative article from David Frum in this past week’s New York Times magazine where he serves up this:

As a general rule, the more unequal a place is, the more Democratic; the more equal, the more Republican.

The article is written from the perspective of a concerned conservative.  He references data that show that Democratic support increases as county levels of income inequality increase.  Jim Manzi at the American Scene blog does some interesting analysis of census block group data that supports this relationship.  Andrew Gelman, on the other hand, points out that this relationship is not as robust at the state level, but still exists.

What to make of all this.  Frum places the blame squarely on a familiar GOP bugaboo:

It’s widely understood that abundant low-skilled immigration hurts lower America by reducing wages. As the National Research Council noted in its comprehensive 1997 report: “If the wage of domestic unskilled workers did not fall, no domestic worker (unskilled or skilled) would gain or lose, and there would be no net domestic gain from immigration.” In other words, immigration is good for America as a whole only because — and only to the extent that — it is bad for the poorest Americans. Conversely, low-skilled immigration enriches upper America, lowering the price of personal services like landscaping and restaurant meals. And by holding down wages, immigration makes the business investments of upper America more profitable.

This is an innovative take on re-framing the old class warfare debates.  Understanding the left as an unholy alliance of the culturally-liberal rich and uneducated, undeserving, immigrant poor makes it easier for the GOP to claim the vast middle.  it’s a provocative talking point to suggest that immigrants are responsible for the growing wage inequality in America.  I wonder if we’ll see that line of attack from the McCain campaign in the next 60 days?  Probably not because of the size of the Latino voting population in battleground Western states.  But this might be an argument lurking in the weeds in local races and in 2012.

I wonder if my psychology friends have any ideas as to why inequality would increase Democratic party voting?