United States presidential election in New York, 2004

In 2004, New York continued its trend of voting for the Democratic presidential candidate. Senator John F. Kerry defeated President George W. Bush by a margin of nearly 20%. Republicans last carried New York in the 1984 election.

A more nuanced interpretation of the results can be obtained by dividing the state into three regions:

*New York City: The voters of the five boroughs were the main force responsible for Kerry's victory in the state. Kerry won New York City by an overwhelming 73.82% to 22.76% for Bush. However, in the mainly white, Catholic, and more suburban Staten Island borough, Bush won, the first time for a Republican since George H. W. Bush in 1992.
*New York's suburban areas (here, Long Island, Westchester and Rockland counties): Traditionally Republican, this area went clearly Democratic through the past few decades, with the arrival of people from New York City. However, in this area where many voters commute to Manhattan, Bush did better than expected. Although he clearly lost these counties to Gore in 2000 with 39.55% to 56.42%, or 655,665 votes to 935,456, he only lost them by a close 46.13% to 52.30% to Kerry. While Bush won 167,397 more votes than in 2000, Kerry lost 2,437. This can be mainly explained by the concerns of suburban moderate voters about terrorism, an issue about which they trusted Bush more than Kerry.

*Upstate New York: This region, including all of the counties that are not part of New York City or its suburbs, is the least liberal and Democratic region of the three. Its politics are very similar to those of Ohio or Pennsylvania, both key swing states and sharing conservative rural areas. Despite this characteristic, Senator Kerry still managed a slim victory in Upstate New York, with 1,553,246 votes to 1,551,971 for Bush. This was largely due to a Democratic tidal wave in the region's four largest cities--Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. Kerry also ran strongly in college dominated Tompkins County and two counties with an influx of former New York City residents moving to vacation homes Ulster County and Columbia County.

Statewide winner in bold. "See main article : U.S. presidential election, 2004."

Detailed results by county

ee also