What I found interesting about my home state is that traditionally, Macomb County has been known to be very Democratic, and Oakland County has been known to be very Republican. However this year, Macomb voted Bush and Oakland voted Kerry. I also found it strange how the Upper Peninsula almost always is strongly Democratic, yet Bush won most of it in 2000 and 2004. My state is usually rather pedictable in that Detroit and the area around it votes Democrat and the rest of the state votes Republican
That hasn't been ture for quite some time, however.
Oakland is very wealthy, and leans libertarian (economically conservative, socially liberal). Macomb is more working class, and leans populist (economically liberal, socially conservative). Thus, as social issues have become more important and economic issues less so, these counties are slowly switching allegiances from what they once were.
The UP, likewise, is populist, and thus is trending away from the Dems. Kerry did a lot better in the western UP than Gore did, however, overall.
There are a lot of places outside of Metro Detroit that vote Democratic, too...
