why are Philadelphia area whites more dem than NY area whites?

[freepcrusher]

I never thought of Philly as being more liberal an area than NY and if anything more conservative. Here is what i found in 2008:

McCain won
63% of white vote in SI
56% in Queens
55% in Passaic
53% in Nassau
53% in Bergen
51% in Suffolk
51% in Union

Obama won
50% in Kings
50% in Middlesex
55ish in Essex
56% in Bronx
56% in Westchester
60ish in Hudson
80% in Manhattan

in Philadelphia, Obama won the white vote in all the major counties (this is 08 we're talking about), even in Chester. More impressive is that he won 56% in Camden County which I always thought had a large WWC population. Nonetheless, there's no equivalent of Manhattan either as Obama's best Philly area county was the city itself where he got in the low to mid 60s.

What do you think explains this? Obviously the all white areas in Bergen and Passaic are wealthier than all white areas in Burlington and Camden counties, but Obama also won the white vote in the mainline.

[freepcrusher]

How did you calculate each county's white GOP vote?

looking at the 75%+ white precincts in those counties