Why is it that cities tend to lean to the left the higher the population density and to the right the lower?

Originally posted on Quora March 23, 2022

Rootless cosmopolitans who pay half their income to a landlord and rely heavily on public services tend to inhabit the former while people who own property, have equity and have fewer public services available tend to inhabit the latter. Conservatism is correlated with homeownership and often business ownership because the left/right divide really just comes down to time preference. Conservatives tend to have a much lower time preference than leftists and value stability and consistency over rapid change and immediate gratification while the left values the latter regardless of how destructive the change is. This is also why you see higher crime rates in the city.