I am always amazed at New York City’s diversity, racially and socioeconomically. However, I’m also amazed at the seeming homogeny of New Yorker’s political views. I always knew that New York City was overwhelmingly democrat. I did not expect the percentages to be so one-sided though. Brooklyn voted 82% for president Obama this election. Manhattan voted 85% for Obama, and Queens voted 79% in favor of the incumbent. The Bronx voted 91% for the president, and even the normally conservative Staten Island voted 50% to 49% to elect Obama to a 2nd term. Up-state New York is more diverse in their political party affiliation. While there are more Republicans, there are at least a fair number of Democrats (30-40%) mixed in. It astounds me that with the huge divide in wealth and race, almost all individuals would all affiliate with one party.
I must confess I am from a traditionally “red” state, Missouri. Even there though, there is a much greater range in political party affiliation. While almost all counties voted for Romney this election, each race was close. No county voted for Romney by more than an 80% margin, in contrast with Obama winning more than 80% in 4 of the 5 boroughs of New York.
It’s amazing how deeply divided our country is now. There was even a report recently that after it was announced that Obama had won reelection, there was a riot at the University of Mississippi. Just search “University of Mississippi riot” on Google and you will find the top search results containing a detailed report of what occurred. The protest comes on the heels of the 50th anniversary of the forced integration of ‘Ole Miss which was met with intense violence almost half a century ago.
I think now more than ever, it’s important for both sides to look at what the other party is saying and try to find some compromise. We need to work on things that both parties can agree on, and sometimes we have to realize we cannot always get everything we want. It seems many of our politicians never learned the basic skill of conciliation.
I think both parties need to be more open-minded to opposing ideas. New York City is supposed to be tolerant of all ideas, but it seems that Republicans are often derided as bigots. In the South, Democrats are disdained as “sell-outs” or socialists. I think it’s time that we quit with the name-calling and actually work together, but I suppose that in Washington things never change.
Finally! A post about the election. It is fascinating to see how one-sided New York City is once in four years, isn’t it? What I found very interesting about your post, more specifically your first picture, is that: as you move inward from the borders of the U.S., the districts gradually change from dark blue, to light blue, to light red, and to dark red. Also, people tend to be democrats along the water… Hum… Isn’t that something to think about?