Your contributions on this thread are masterful and ought to be mandatory reading. My dad worked in a cardboard factory and my mother in a garment factory. My experience in their household tells me you are right on target on populism, Reagan Democrats and the working/lower middle class.
From a former critic, keep up the great work.
FWIW, BE, Sam always posts well-thought out positions.
On the immigration question, Sam has identified (correctly, IMHO) part of the problem as wage-slavery (you recall Belloc's Servile State.)
IIRC, in essence, Sam's hypothesis is that by and large the Fortune 500 is decidedly neutral on the issue because they can easily substitute illegals at $6.25/hour for the native workers at $8.50.
Take a look at any meat-processor.
Further, I think the Pew analysis misses a very significant breakdown category--faith.
My suspicion is that we are looking at another way to phrase the "socially conservative/economically liberal" position of not only genuine Conservatism, but genuine Christianity.
Madison Avenue has long been a target of thinking Catholics, some at extremely high levels in the Church. Consumerism/materialism debilitates society.
A high-end men's clothing retailer in Milwaukee is now running radio ads which address the economic situation up here--it's mixed--by proposing the solution of BUY, BUY, BUY as "the American way" to fix the economy.
I can't decide if the commercials are tongue-in-cheek...