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I remember I felt the same way growing up in New Mexico, however, after leaving the state and traveling throughout the United States, I would say New Mexico is among the top in disparity, it actually reminds me of Alaska in that the states face very similar issues.
I have been to 43 states, lived in five, and lived in two Latin American countries. Albuquerque to me is pretty low on my list of places with economic disparity.
For one, there is a noticeable lack of very wealthy people in ABQ. The very wealthy head to Santa Fe and Taos. You can't compare the drive on Academy in ABQ to an area like Las Campanas in Santa Fe, where you have to pay $90,000 membership for the "club."
Coming most recently from Boston (if 1989 can be "recent" LOL) I can say there was a much starker disparity there. Slummy areas and also racially-divided areas. Albuquerque has a lot of run-down parts but nothing as depressing as some of the tenements in Boston. And don't get me started on my hometown of New York where the extremes are immediately obvious to every visitor.
Albuquerque has long been known as an unpretentious town, and I believe it still lives up (or down) to that reputation.
I am an outsider, but for what it's worth I perceive New Mexico to be more libertarian than liberal. So, relatively "progressive" on social issues, but relatively conservative fiscally and on things like gun ownership.
A New Mexico democrat is a very different thing from the California Democrats where I live, which generally fall in the the far left extreme.
We live in South Daytona, in Volusia County. I think Florida as a whole, unless you live in Miami, is what I would term conservative, w/ some parts being downright Tea Party types. That's just how it is since so many people here come from up north to retire, and they're in their 60's or older, which is generally not a liberal time of life I'm seeing (although it's not true for us). Most of them are the have's, as in they have their retirement, they have their savings, they have their life insurance. Many live here AND they still have their home back up East. They came here because there's no personal income tax, and it's cheap and warm. Anything that takes away from them, they're against. So no help if you're poor or disadvantaged or disabled, etc. They don't care, and they aren't going to do one thing about it if it costs them a buck. Period. It goes beyond conservative or liberal, which are just loose terms and regional, as another poster here so wisely said. Like the Mayor of Orlando once said, "I know the homeless have their problems. Let them have them some place else". They probably built a statue of him w/ those words inscribed on it.
We knew a lot of this before coming here, but the day to day reality wears you down. There's NO real art galleries, no real theater, no dance at all, and even the music scene is dead unless you're into tribute bands! The whole place seems to be run by developers. It's the place that art forgot. I am real tired of hearing how Obamacare ruined this, destroyed that, etc. People are entitled to their views (which are extreme in my mind), but there is no opposing mentality to speak of. We have a great, cheap place to live that's safe and quiet, the neighbors are much more conservative (but not actively hostile to us), etc. There has to be more than that though. People shouldn't feel as if they're way out of touch w/ the populace, which is where we're at. Out of desperation I finally ran an ad on craigslist trying to start a Democrats Club, not by that name but something similar, where people could sit down and discuss issues w/o being hounded by the far right types. It ran for one month and received not one reply.
I know Albuq has always been a poor town, but don't mind that. The University, and the mindset in NM, regardless of who is in the State Capital, has always kept things pretty nice in my opinion, politically speaking. I get a sense that it's still that way pretty much, from what I see here. I hate Albuq winters, but it may be worth it to stroll the campus and see what's up, and to have lunch at the Frontier, which should be given historical status or something.
From PDF file: The Most Conservative and Liberal Cities in the United States
alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/metro/081205libs.pdf Albuquerque has a "liberal rank of 145" and a "conservative rank of 95".
So, it's not cut and dry. Probably depends on what part of the city you are standing in, your mood for that day, and a few other factors which change from day to day...
Agree with your observations. We retired after 13 years at Alamo Navajo Rez.( west of Socorro) to be near our daughter here in Palm Bay-Melbourne Fl. area and miss Albuquerque and New Mexico. Your post hits home, and raised feelings that the wife and I comment on almost daily. Such as, liberal viewpoints, breakfast at the Frontier on Sunday and the feeling of a sense of belonging in N.M.. I do believe, that if we could recover what we've put into the house here that we would leave for Abq. the day after closing higher taxes and all. Oh yeah, we're with you, in that we hate cold as well.
I do believe, that if we could recover what we've put into the house here that we would leave for Abq. the day after closing higher taxes and all. Oh yeah, we're with you, in that we hate cold as well.
Possibly I have a big house on the west side I could sell you? I have loved NM's natural beauty for over 40 years but not its large cities.
I have no clue whether Albuquerque is a liberal or conservative town and we have had a home there for nearly 20 years. That probably says something positive about the City.
If you went door-to-door and asked, you'd find that Albuquerque is way more liberal. However, at the voting booth, it is more center/swing because many people don't vote. We have always had a democrat controlled legislature for as long as I can remember, but we have a Republican mayor.
Santa Fe is waaaaaay more liberal than Albuquerque -- and I'm not referring to the poor. There are many rich liberals in Santa Fe.
It definitely not cut and dry and certainly becomes very centrist if you look at the metro area, which includes Albuquerque Acres, Sandia Heights, Los Ranchos, Rio Rancho, etc. I am not even sure I would say the city is that is pronounced socially liberal... Its pretty moderate on the whole. With the exception of this past election cycle, its worth noting how competitive Congressional District 1 has been to get a sense of the city's political landscape.
Someone told me that the east side is Republican and that the west side is Democrat…. I haven't lived here long enough to know if that's true or not, but I have observed that the city seems pretty moderate all the way around. Albuquerque seems to have a healthy split of Republican and Democrat. I'd say, if anything, the area leans slightly Democrat, but it's mostly moderate Democrats… I dunno why that is… I guess all the far left loons live in Santa Fe and all the far right wingers live somewhere in the southern part of the state? =)
Seriously though, one of the reasons I like Albuquerque is because it's pretty laid back politically and fairly middle of the road. The mayor, and I believe the majority of the city council is Republican, but the County seems to be run by Democrats. You occasionally see something on the news or hear about B.S. party bickering and stupid political nonsense, but it's nowhere nearly as divided and as wound-up as the rest of the country seems these days.
I was born and raised in Orange County, CA which is VERY conservative and I spent 8 years in Santa Fe which is VERY liberal… it's nice being in a place that's pretty chill about politics. Everyone has their opinions, and that cool. But what's really cool, is that that you can actually share your opinion without a bunch of people jumping down your throat or getting in your face about it. I can tell my neighbor that I like the governor or the mayor and they'll either be like "Yeah, I agree" or "Nah, I voted for the other guy"… but no one is going to go ballistic and get in my face and call me a Nazi because I voted for a Republican once. (That actually happened to me in Santa Fe… learned my lesson to keep my mouth shut there real quick!) People in Albuquerque seems pretty content as long as the trash is picked-up, the roads are fine, and taxes are reasonable. That's not to say Albuquerque does't have some issues… but people are more or less satisfied with life in the city and that seems to soothe over any political unrest that might otherwise exist.
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I have loved NM's natural beauty for over 40 years but not its large cities. 
