The above slideshow demonstrates the shifts in voter enrollment by party in New York State amongst all major living generations
Using data obtained from the VCount application maintained by L2Political, I was able to develop a series of maps which display the current political party enrollment statistics for all 62 counties and 5 boroughs in the State of New York categorized by age. The four maps below display the percentage point gap between enrolled Democrats and enrolled Republicans for every major living generation; Millennials (Ages 18-35), Generation X (Ages 36-52), Baby Boomers (Ages 53-72), and the remaining remnants of the Silent Generation and older (Ages 73-99).
Silent Generation and Older (Ages 73-99)
New York State Voter Enrollment for the Silent Generation and older (Ages 73-99), 2017
(Source: L2Political’s VCount App)
When evaluating last remnants of the Silent Generation and older, you can very clearly see the coalition that dominated New York politics from the Civil War era on up through the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The five boroughs of New York City were controlled and dominated by the Democratic Party, while the rest of the state was a Republican Party bastion. Long Island trended towards the GOP in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s with massive “white flight” exodus to the suburbs, while most of Upstate New York was an old-school moderate Yankee Republican stronghold as it had been since the 1860s (similar to Vermont, New Hampshire and adjacent portions of New England). The only Democratic outposts Upstate throughout most of the 20th century were Albany County (Corning-O’Connell Machine), Erie County/Buffalo, as well as Sullivan County in the Catskills. Predominantly French Canadian pockets of Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties in the far North Country also had a Democratic presence going back to the late 1920s. The Democratic Party also had some strength in Oneida County (Utica-Rome) with its large Italian and Polish immigrant populations being a reliable Democratic block from the 1930s through the early 1980s.
The above map very closely resembles the county map of the 1976 presidential election results in New York between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and the 1980 presidential election results between Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Baby Boomers (Ages 53-72)
New York State Voter Enrollment for the Baby Boomer Generation (Ages 53-72), 2017
(Source: L2Political’s VCount App)
The above map clearly shows the start of the bluing of Long Island and the purpling of Upstate New York. Democrats take a narrow enrollment advantage in Nassau County (Western Long Island), while the lower and mid-Hudson Valley areas clearly move leftward, with Democrats taking the enrollment advantages in Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia and Rensselaer Counties, as well as widening the lead in Westchester County. Onondaga County (Syracuse) and Monroe County (Rochester), which had been some of the only Republican urban areas in the nation throughout much of the 19th Century begin to turn Democratic. Tompkins County (Ithaca), which had been predominantly Republican until the early 1980s, makes a very hard turn to the left.
The above map very closely resembles the county maps from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Generation X (Ages 36-52)
New York State Voter Enrollment for Generation X (Ages 36-52), 2017
(Source: L2Political’s VCount App)
The above map shows a continuation of the trends that began with the previous Baby Boomer generation. Long Island continues to turn more Democratic, with Democrats now taking the enrollment advantage in Suffolk County and widening the lead in Nassau County. Onondaga County (Syracuse) and Monroe County (Rochester) continue marching leftward.
Millennials (Ages 18-35)
New York State Voter Enrollment for the Millennial Generation (Ages 18-35), 2017
(Source: L2Political’s VCount App)
The erosion of the Republican Party base on Long Island and throughout Upstate New York continues even more sharply with the Millennial Generation, which mostly came of age around the time of the Great Recession when George W. Bush’s unpopularity peaked. Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the four major Upstate urban cores and the three French Canadian North Country counties trend even further towards the Democrats. In addition, Democrats also make big gains in several Republican strongholds in far eastern Upstate New York near the Vermont border, taking narrow leads in Saratoga, Warren and Essex Counties, while dramatically closing the gap in Washington County.
The above map looks very similar to the New York county maps from the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
