Wow, Greenwich is pretty damn polarized if that's the case. It voted only 55% for Shays and Bush barely broke 50% there.
Nay, it is not polarized. It is the only city in New England to vote for Bush both times. (Manchester, NH voted for Gore in 2000 and for Bush in 2004, despite the state as a whole switching the other way.) It probably saved Shays last year, even some of the suburban towns voted for Farrell.
No, that's the definition of polarized. Bush didn't win it by that much, and even Shays didn't either. Yet it still voted for a candidate who got crushed in a landslide. Typically such places vote for winning Republicans like Shays well over 60%, but when they don't, that just means it's extremely polarized with tons of staunch partisans on both sides. Much like Hamilton County in Ohio, Bush didn't win it by that much, but Blackwell still won it despite the very well deserved crushing he received.
And it's not the only such place in New England. I found a lot comparing the Murphy/Johnson results to Kerry/Bush and Kerry/Gore since I was surprised someone so liberal beat such a longterm moderate incumbent by such a wide margin. Turns out Murphy did about as well as Gore did in the district in 2000, so he he simply held the Democratic voters who in the past crossed over to vote for Johnson and won back the Democratic voters who swung to Bush in the 9/11 effect. His old State Senate seat was surprisingly Republican, Wolcott voted for Bush both times, by a fairly wide margin, (Murphy still won it though). Torrington also voted for Bush both times and for Murphy. Murphy is just a really good candidate, which explains who he held such a Republican district in the first place. I hope he gets himself the governorship or a Senate seat so he can run for President somewhere down the road.
