Of course, employers are smaller, prices are lower and there is generally less competition for economic resources away from big cities. This tends to lessen the inequality that center left politics is designed to advocate against.
If you are a manager making $45,000 a year and your boss makes $80,000 a year in a company of a few dozen, you are probably more conservative than a programmer making $90,000 a year when their boss's income is in the several hundreds of thousands in a company that employs thousands. Think King of the Hill against Family Guy or even the Simpsons.
The differences in perceived and actual inequality play a big role.
If you're working class and in New York city, you live in a world completely removed from the wealthy. They live in Manhattan, send their kids to private schools that cost twice what you earn in a year, and donate multimillion dollar paintings to museums. You're living in a cramped walk-up, taking public transportation and have no hope of ever owning your own home.
If you're working class in a small or mid-size city in Alabama, the wealthy people are the local business owners and maybe a few doctors and lawyers. They live in larger houses and drive nicer cars, but they go to the same church you do, your kids all go to public school together and they sponsor little league games and the county fair.
It shouldn't be surprising that a New Jersey Turnpike toll booth operator has no problem with raising taxes on the millionaires and billionaires whose chauffeured cars whiz through every day, while the guy in Shreveport is wondering why Barack Obama wants to penalize the guy in his men's Bible study group whose son plays JV football with his son.
