Kerry won 8 out of the 10 the nation's wealthiest counties

Yesterday I posted here that Bush won 7 of the 10 poorest white majority counties in the US. See here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3750737&mesg_id=3750737

Today I decided to look at the other side of the coin. It seems that Kerry won in 8 out of the 10 wealthiest counties in the US, as measured by per capita income. In some cases he won by big margins. Yes, I know cost of living in Manhattan is higher than anywhere else, but Kerry won even in the wealthy neighborhoods of Manhattan.

The point here is that I can remember after the 3 consecutive presidential election losses in the 1980's--which were far worse than what happened to the Democrats in 2000 and 2004--commentators said that the Democrats needed to improve their standing in suburbs and among upper middle class voters. It appears as if that task has been fulfilled. The bigger worry is why Democrats are losing working class voters.

THE DATA

10. Westchester County, New York
Kerry 58.1%
Bush 40.3%

9. Fairfax County, Virginia
Kerry 53.2%
Bush 45.9%

8. Morris County, New Jersey
Kerry 41.7%
Bush 57.5%

7. Arlington County, Virginia
Kerry 67.6%
Bush 31.3%

6. Somerset County, New Jersey
Kerry 47.4%
Bush 51.7%

5. Teton County, Wyoming
Kerry 52.6%
Bush 45.1%

4. Fairfield County, Connecticut
Kerry 51.4%
Bush 47.3%

3. Pitkin County, Colorado
Kerry 68.4%
Bush 30.1%

2. Manhattan (NYC), New York
Kerry 82.1%
Bush 16.7%

1. Marin County, California
Kerry 73.2%
Bush 25.4%

nt

We all but refuse to run pro life candidates no matter how progressive he or she may otherwise may be, but people can vote for such abominations as the bankrupcy bill with nary a word spoken about it. No wonder the poor in this country wonder why they should value our economic message above our social one.

the bankruptcy bill would do any better in some of the poorer counties. I think we win many counties because of our pro-choice position. Marin County was a strong Republican county 15 to 20 years ago. It is now strongly Democratic. I believe, in part, because of Democrats strong pro-choice, pro gay rights, and active stance on protecting the environment. Dems could lose this county if Dems give up choice because many will vote third party. I know that's true in many other Dem strongholds.

I am not advocating running pro life candidates in the sense that I think they should be sought out. But in PA, our best candidate by several miles is Casey. He should be supported.

Toney ski resort. Think Aspen, Colorado.

on edit: Cheney LOST his "home" county.

I have a friend who is a cab driver (but about to retire that) and not too long ago she had a couple in her car who was from Cheney's home and they didn't like him at all. :D

Often this creativeness is signaled by a high percentage of gay people and/or scientists. Those are the cities that do the best and lead the way.

correlated with education levels? Maybe more education leads to less tv and more inciteful reading, internet use and therefore facts.

Many rich people actually give a damn. If the rapacious looting of the world and destabilizing of our country for gluttonous personal gain continues, the whole thing can come crashing down around our ears. Many successful people are acutely aware of this.

The selfish megagreed of our current policies can lead nowhere but to disaster, and many "haves" can see this very plainly. Even if not "nice", many affluent people can see all of this as simply reckless. For the amassing of obscene wealth, stability is key, and if the workers and professionals are saddled with supporting society while simultaneously having all safety nets slashed, the system wobbles to an inevitable skittering out. A spinning top often looks perfectly calm and stable JUST before it careens wildly and falls. Many can see this.

For a consumer society to continue, the consumers need to have the means to consume. Crush unions, slash wages and knock out all of the shoring members of society, and the po' folk are REALLY po'. In an information society, if you degrade education and make much of it unobtainable, the would-be consumers are incapable of consuming.

The rich aren't necessarily smarter, nor do they necessarily work harder, but those who got there by themselves or were able to hold on to their legacies often aren't the dimmest of bulbs, and they have a reasonable amount of free time to concentrate on the problem.

Selfishness doesn't work as a societal motivator. As a personal motivator, it does to a great degree, but society is based on shared sacrifice. Society is regulation. Those who would remove all controls are either fools or thugs, and many who have a tidy pile are aware of this.

Sure, there are many cold-blooded megarich dicks who love the good old feudalism, but much of the oomph of conservatism comes from wannabes, and that is about the most damning dismissal of a broad group of society that I can really make. Putting social conservatism aside, there's nothing more pathetic than a poor Republican.

Something stinks there

Don't you remember Cheney or someone close to the Bush Campaign believeing the had NJ in the bag, yet it went to Kerry. It was to the point they thought NJ might be a swing state. (I know this is the richest city thing) Just found it interesting that both were NJ that went for bush everything else, Kerry.

This area is also home to a lot of pharmaceutical companies. I can literally walk to Aventis' offices, down the street. Pfizer also has offices here, Ethicon is based here, Pharmacia is the next town over, and the same for Ortho.

I was looking at the returns from past elections and Kerry's %47+ is far better than any Democrat since LBJ. That's hard to complain about. Yet down south in Cape May County there was major Democratic slippage from 2000.

and Broward Country(a lot of wealth as well)64 % Kerry - 35% Bush

Just go listen to these people somewhere like a low-class bar in a rural area (I do) - they are still using propaganda thrown at them in the 80's and 90's - uneducated and uninformed - we need some red-neck Democrats to talk to these people in "ignoramospeak" so we can get into their thick heads.