Why is New York solid blue?

[Mizmoon]

It almost seems crazy that New York, the financial capital of the world, would be Democratic, doesn't it? We've got all those crazy rich bankers, businesspeople, and some of the richest people in the world live here.

In addition, this is the state that suffered the most civillian casualities. I know it hurts the heart of every single one of us when we see that skyline without the WTC. Sometimes I can hardly believe that they are gone. Many feel that way. Yet the state is still blue. How can that be?

Is it the way we are raised here? The number of minorities? The level of education?

I'd like to hear theories on why New York remains true blue.

*edited to fix 'capital'

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. because we ROCK

We're smarter than the average American, and more humble too. ;)

[iwantmycountryback]

13. Exactly

New York just plain kicks ass.

[Goldmund]

2. I think the reason is precisely the reasons you listed...

...against it being blue -- in addition to NY's general cosmopolitan liberal attitude.

[wysi]

3. Proximity...

... to the most enlightened state in the Union ;-) (MA of course!)

[Mizmoon]

9. Maybe you're on to something

Even though you people insist we're not part of New England, we know we are anyway so it doesn't matter ...

Seriously, maybe it's related to having been part of the first colonies ... the people who REALLY won the Revolution ... the people who fought and won American liberty. Or am I bragging too much :)

[wellstone_democrat]

32. You mean Rhode Island

where even the Republican Senator--Linc Chaffee is sort of Democratic....


Proud native RI'er here:evilgrin:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. cos we KNOW that sept 11 happened after bush was in power

and we dont buy his fucking excuses!!


also nyc is traditionally liberal

[russian33]

5. I always wondered how are we stuck with a Repub Gov and Mayor?

[Mizmoon]

6. Me too

I loved Cuomo. I still want him back :)

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. really bad state democrats

Mark Green and Carl McCall were our best options?

Nice guys and all, but not exactly what I'd call the best candidates in the world.

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. They ran better candidates

They are moderates, so as not to alienate most Democrats. It is the same as how South Dakota has an entirely Democratic congressional delegation (two Senators and one Representative) despite being a solidly Republican (Bush won there with 60% of the vote in 2000).

[Homerr]

7. City = everyone in this together; Country = screw everyone

[Jersey Devil]

10. Because New Yorkers are near NJ

Every time they find themselves slipping and need a dash of culture they have to slip accross the bridge to the Jersey side,

[Mizmoon]

12. I've always been intrigued by Penn Station in Newark

What's up with that?

[Jersey Devil]

28. Dunno what you could possibly mean

Been there myself several times. An old fashioned station, pretty big and quaint but other than that, nothing special that I could detect.

[Mizmoon]

30. I mean - there's already a Penn Station, just miles away

in NYC. I just thought it was strange that Newark had a station with the exact same name.

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's funny.:P

[Jersey Devil]

34. Could be because they both go to Pennsylvania

Those stations are among the oldest in the country and my guess is they were named for their initial destinations. Never thought about it before, but you are right, it is rather strange.

[yankeedem]

38. Penn Station= Pennsylvania Railroad

Which owned the line before Conrail took over when they went bankrupt.

[Mizmoon]

40. mystery solved

thanks!

[BeyondGeography]

11. Three words: New York City

A lot of those Wall Streeters live in the northern suburbs and/or NJ/Connecticut. Plus they're not all Pubbies (Robert Rubin, e.g.).

We're blessed with large populations in the the city of traditionally liberal groups, such as African-Americans and Jews. Bless them both.

The city will vote for moderate Republicans (i.e. Giuliani before he became Bush's Buttboy and Bloomberg). It's a sophisticated place. The picture gets a little ugly upstate, however, where the Dems win hardly any counties outside urban areas. But NYC represents about half the state's population and parts of Manhattan vote 75% to 80% Democratic. It doesn't get any bluer.

[Not Me]

17. Actually, the upstate cities went blue in 2000 as well.

[Mizmoon]

19. Some of the upstate cities are so poor it's shocking

Buffalo, a once proud city, is decaying, kept alive by football, hockey, and SUNY. Niagra Falls is in terrible condition - it's a shame that this is the America that so many people see when they come over from Ontario. The upstate dairy farmers are barely making it. I can see why they'd go blue up there.

[giant_robot]

33. Very, very blue here

I've been in grad school at SUNY Buffalo for a few years now, and you see nothing but Kerry/Edwards signs in the city. I looked up the registration stats for Erie county in 2000 and it was damn near 2 to 1 dems to republican back then. I can imagine it'll be quite a bit more this time around.

[BeyondGeography]

22. Like I said

<The picture gets a little ugly upstate, however, where the Dems win hardly any counties OUTSIDE URBAN AREAS.>

[Free2BMe]

14. I believe we are very progressive in life and thinking..Our immigrant

roots established a fore-thinking policy which in the long run benefits us most...We are so are the land of hope ...as is evidenced by overcoming adversity and problems.

[Fleshdancer]

15. They just do it to make us Democratic Texans jealous

and, of course, they're smarter than average. :)

[npincus]

16. the average IQ is higher here than many red states

do not be offended- I said "average". tee hee

New Yorkers are a no-nonsense lot and can smell a lying sack of shit a mile from a mile away.

[JI7]

18. people live close together as most liberal places

[dolstein]

20. Rockefeller Republicans

Back in the days of Thomas Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller, New York Republicans were well within the mainstream of the Republican Party. Now they've been maligned and marginalized by the national party to the extent that there is a significant crossover vote in Presidential elections. As the electoral successes of George Pataki and Rudy Giuliana show, Republicans can still be competitive at the state level.

[ClintonTyree]

21. The financial capital of the world..............

it's a proven fact that business thrives under a Democratic Administration. Why rich bastards love the Reslugs is because they're always cutting their taxes, but without the Democrats in power to facilitate them making all of that money, they'd be shit out of luck.

[chookie]

23. It's an international city

It's a MAJOR international city.

The red states have provincial mindsets.

Those Bush Bastards were probably rubbing their hands together and drooling after Sept 11, thinking it was going to go "red." But New York is too smart for that bullshit. They are tough people, heroic.

Bush thought it was going to be easier than it turned out to be.

New York has rejected him; have revulsion towards him. They see through the fascist bullshit Bush is trying to ram through. They hate him for using their grief for his political agenda -- and know his fuckups will continue to put THEM in harm's way. Also -- not everyone has been brainwashed to think that "it's all Clinton's fault" or "The End Is Coming."

As to the fact that it is an international financial center -- don't assume that Bush or Cheney represent the traditional conservative banking and business moguls. Bush represents the stupid fuck pirates who exploit and abuse capitalism, and who have no moral values, and don't even give a shit if they destroy it. Don't confuse the Wall Street Journal Opinion page with the minds of the uber-Capitalists....

I'm proud of New York, more than ever.

[MoonRiver]

24. Because dumbass losers vote *, while intelligent highly informed people

vote Kerry. nuff said

[aden_nak]

25. Sheer concentration of people.

Despite the extremely wealthy in the financial district and the extremely rednecky in the stix (and I went to school up there, so I can say what I please as an informed citizen), the overwhelming majority of the city population is left-leaning. And the structure and organization of NYC almost encourages voting, I think, because of the overt centralization. And I have found, in all honestly, that many of the "you'd expect them to be Republican" wealthy in NYC are actually liberal in most respects, and that's the very reason they choose to live in NYC in the first place.

[American Tragedy]

26. Why do you assume that 9/11 would make them vote Bush?

<<I know it hurts the heart of every single one of us when we see that skyline without the WTC. Sometimes I can hardly believe that they are gone. Many feel that way. Yet the state is still blue. How can that be?>>

It happened under Bush's watch!

Furthermore, it's a part of the nationwide paradox that the urban populations who are most susceptible to terrorist attacks are the ones who are least likely to be swayed by the Republican fearmongering.

[Mizmoon]

29. I think that's right

When I first heard of the missing explosives, my thought was ,"Oh great. You KNOW they'll blow that shit up here."

We live in a low-level state of fear at all times. When we had that big blackout summer before last, I went outside to see if I could find out what was happening on my car radio. I ran into my neighbor who was wide-eyed and said, "The power's out all the way up to Toronto. It's the terrorists, I'm sure."

The first thing they reported on the radio was that it was NOT terrorist related, something they knew we all feared.

I can't speak for everyone in this state, but I know I sure don't feel any safer with bush* in power, provoking every friggin terrorist nest he can find, telling them to BRING IT ON for goodness sake! When he says shit like that, I feel like they might bring it on right here, baby. Right at my doorstep.

Dear Lord, please let Kerry win this thing.

[newyawker99]

42. Hi End of all Hope!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[demokatgurrl]

27. They're smart. They elected Hillary as Senator.

They know about money, and they know about poverty, and NY City is international.

[Czolgosz]

31. New Yorkers hava a higher-than-average level of eductaion. People with

post-graduate education historically vote Democratic by very wide margins.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

35. because "we are in the know"

[blondeatlast]

36. Ethnic population, location (easier to GOTV), and education

are my guesses.

[RafterMan]

37. Grrr

Okay, that's a fine question, but this line bugs me: "I know it hurts the heart of every single one of us when we see that skyline without the WTC. Sometimes I can hardly believe that they are gone. Many feel that way. Yet the state is still blue. How can that be?"

There is no YET. The whole country should be solid blue BECAUSE of that gap in the skyline, not in spite of it.

I know you did not mean it maliciously, but just yesterday I watched some fool from PA talking about how the war on terror was Bush's big strength. He said it like an obvious truth, and nobody called him on it. Bush's own Secretary of Defense says we have no strategy and are creating more terrorists than we kill, yet the myth persists.

[Mizmoon]

39. I wrote that probably because I have learned to expect the worst

from people. That's a sad thing, isn't it?

I said 'yet' because in my experience people are often vengeful. God knows the freeper-types are and they expected NY to be too. That's why they did their stupid convention here.

New Yorkers have a right to be angry and maybe even to feel vengeful over our terrible loss - so many people dead in such a horrible manner, the gap in the skyline that is a constant reminder of that day. But we don't. We resisted the hardest to resist of human emotions - rage and vengefulness... it's unusual.

I'm going stream of consciousness on you, so I'll stop now.

[RafterMan]

43. Good point

I was going to say, "Well, we truly understand the consequences of Bush's reckless idiocy -- we had to smell that damned crater for months. Let the freepers take the next hit in one of their towns and see how they like W then".

But then Israel is a target and seems to have largely given in to rage and vengefulness, so you may have a point. Or maybe we're all for a little vengeance, but recognize bungling incompetence when we see it. Janeane Garofalo calls W the Sonny Corleone of the Bush crime family. If he'd been more of a Michael, I could see this town shifting.

[Trajan]

44. Classic non sequitur ....

It 'does not follow' that:

1) The existence of Wall Street in NYC would demand a corresponding RW majority in the NYC electorate .... DO you think that the 'investor class' and Wall Street Tycoons make up the majority of NYC citizens ? ... they are certainly a MINORITY ....

2) The fact that the WTC were attacked doesnt create a de facto bonanza for the GOP ... quite the opposite is true because THEY were in power when this occurred ... NOT Democrats ....

You are playing the tune of the BS artists in the GOP by repeating this nonsense, as if they were legitimate questions ....