Michael Barone’s Take
Affluent suburbanites are voting Republican again:
Bergen County, New Jersey, a 56%-42% Corzine constituency in 2005, came within a point or two of voting for Christie, and in Virginia McDonnell carried 51%-49% Fairfax County—Republican for years but recently in cultural issues and with an increasing immigrant population Democratic (60%-39% Obama in 2008).
In addition, Westchester County, New York, voted 58%-42% for a Republican county execctive after voting almost exactly the opposite way, in a race involving the same two candidates, four years before . The Philadelphia suburban counties, increasingly Democratic in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008, voted Republican in a partisan race for the Supreme Court in 2009.
From the 1996 election up through and including 2008., affluent counties in the East, Midwest and West have trended Democratic, largely through distaste for the religious and cultural conservatives whom voters there have seen (not without reason) as dominant in the Republican party. Now, with the specter of higher tax rates and a vastly expanded public sector, they may be—possibly—headed in the other direction. An interesting trend to watch.
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November 4th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Goes to show you when GOPers run on a prolife message and as competent, thinking candidates they can win.
Also goes on to show that when GOPers run as Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck clones, they lose their asses.
So, STFU with the crap about Obama not being born here or being some Muslim or a Communist or the AntiChrist.
Hoffman WOULD have won had he not bought into that conspiracy crap.
November 4th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I went to an investment seminar full of effluent suburbanites last night and they were all freaked out about the deficit, the dollar, and public employee pensions. These are winning issues.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Suburban Chicago has been moving blue for 20 years. The real problem were corrupt,backroom types,the kind that selected the bitch in NY 23. When we run reformers,like McDonnell and Christie,we can win those voters.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
On November 3rd (a HUGE election day)…
Polipundit managed a PITIFUL 58 comments.
Before JokeLeaf wrecked this site, Polipundit could get 500+ comments in a single thread and WAY MORE on an important election night…
Yesterday people also voted on the blogs…
…and PoliPundit/JokeLeaf.com LOST BIG
Way to destroy your blog Poli…
Welcome to irrelevance…
November 4th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The GOP needs to be pragmatic. Economic and fiscal iussues need to be its core with social issues being more fluid. It needs to consistently nominate candidates who will agree with its base on enough issues to be acceptable to the majority but will be capable of attracting to themselves Dem and indy voters. Rush is wrong in dismissing social libertarians. They have a place in the GOP as much as he.