Wow.
For the first time in anybody's memory, the vast territory north of Westchester and Rockland counties tilts Democrat in active voter registration. As Republicans across the country grapple with declining fortunes, even their upstate bastion is morphing into at least a pale shade of blue [...]
As a result, such former GOP strongholds as Dutchess, Rensselaer, Onondaga and Niagara counties now report a Democratic registration edge.
"Even in the counties where enrollment does not reflect a Democratic majority, the Democratic performance has been there," O'Neill added.
Statewide and upstate numbers tell the story. While Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 2.5 million voters across the state today, they trailed by only about 800,000 when Alfonse M. D'Amato won the statewide Senate election in 1980.
Upstate-the area that excludes New York City, plus Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland counties-counted 1,332,306 Republicans and 1,034,963 Democrats in 1980. Today upstate Democrats have vaulted ahead-1,524,697 to 1,492,309.
In Erie County in 1980, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 241,427 to 171,656. Today Democrats hold an edge of 294,051 to 160,051.
The article discusses voter registration numbers, but here are the presidential results from 2008. The glowing county is Westchester. Rockland is to its immediate left.
Everything above Westchester and neighboring Rockland (outside of the big urban centers) used to be "GOP stronghold" territory. Look at the 2004 results:
While it's nice to see that much more Blue on the map, and nicer to see more pink than deep Red, fact is that New York is solidly Democratic at the presidential level. The greatest practical effect of this partisan shift is at the state legislative level, where Democrats took the State Senate after more than 40 years in the minority (since 1965, actually) -- a takeover fueled by gains in rural upstate New York. (They already have a near-lock on the NYC delegation.)
New York, like the rest of the Northeast, is an inhospitable environment for the Party of Limbaugh. The only question is how far they can continue to fall.