Palin vs. Romney: Class War Looms for GOP

Remember how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton divided Democrats along class and educational lines in the 2008 primary? Well, Republicans are about to provide their own rendition in the run up to 2012, observes Ronald Brownstein of the National Journal. A new Gallup Poll has Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin neck and neck at the front of the Republican pack, with 19% and 16% of the vote respectively. But among voters with 4-year degrees, Romney is trouncing Palin 24% to 11%.

Among those with post-graduate degrees, that margin grows to almost 3-to-1. Romney was also the favorite for affluent and secular voters. “It’s far too early to speculate who would have the upper hand in a Romney-Palin contest,” says Brownstein. But “if they do square off, they would appeal to very different constituencies in an increasingly upstairs-downstairs Republican electoral coalition.” (More Mitt Romney stories.)