sacbee.com -- Opinion -- Daniel Weintraub: Life behind gates isn't so isolating
This is an article about a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California that I haven't read yet. Check out this, from the Weintraub article:
"The study found that voters in planned communities were almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, with each around 40 percent, compared to a big advantage for Democrats in traditional neighborhoods. But at least in 2000, their voting behavior was not terribly different from the rest of the state.

"While 28 percent of voters outside planned communities supported a proposition authorizing state-funded school vouchers, for example, 31 percent of voters in planned communities voted for the measure. And while 56 percent of voters outside planned neighborhoods supported a measure making it easier for voters to approve local school bonds, 52 percent of residents inside planned communities supported the proposition. Results like this suggest a slight conservative tilt, but given the partisan trends already noted, it's surprising that the political differences aren't greater."
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So, CIDs are significantly more Republican and show more support for private schools and less support for public schools. And these are exactly the kinds of differences that I and other observers have suggested we would see. But according to Weintraub, the study is "casting doubt on old assumptions about gated communities, and the extent to which their residents wall themselves off not only from their neighbors but from the rest of society and its civic life as well."

Doesn't look that way from the evidence in the article. I'd say those differences may be statistically significant, but I'll suspend judgement until I see the study.