A voting history of Scarsdale NY

[King of Kensington]

Incomplete and a bit patchy voting history of this famous wealthy suburb with a large Jewish population.  My sources include Kevin Phillips, The Emerging Republican Majority and Carol O'Connor, A  Sort of Utopia.

1960  Nixon 64%
1964  Johnson 65%, Goldwater 35%
1968  Humphrey 55%, Nixon 45% (two-party vote)
1972  Nixon 51%, McGovern 49% (two-party vote)
1976  Ford 50.5%, Carter 49.5%
1980  Reagan 51%, Carter 34%, Anderson 14%
....
2020  Biden 79%; Trump 20%


Not sure if Mondale or Dukakis carried Scarsdale; my feeling is they did.  Certainly it's been D since 1992.

IIRC Romney got about 40% of the vote in Scarsdale, so obviously the shift to Trumpism did not play well in Scarsdale.

[King of Kensington]

Scarsdale probably became plurality-Jewish in the 1960s.  According to O'Connor:

In 1940, about 69 percent of Scarsdale's families could be classified as white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants; 16 percent were Roman Catholic in affiliation or background, and 15 percent were ethnically Jewish.  Twenty years, the percentage of WASPs had declined to 42, the percentage of Jews had risen to 35, and the percentage of people from Catholic groups had increased to 23.  In 1980, Jews comprised the largest ethnic group in the community, constituting roughly 50 percent of families.  Protestants counted for 24 percent of the total, Catholics 21 percent.

Since then the Asian population has increased significantly, and the Jewish population has likely levelled off and dispersed.  Scarsdale is probably around 40% Jewish now, and the once very WASPy Westchester communities (Larchmont, Rye) have significant Jewish populations.

[King of Kensington]

Biden won every town in Westchester.  It's the Italian vote that stands out. Eastchester and Harrison were closer (around 55-45 D). 

The elite towns without an ethnic character (i.e. Rye, Pound Ridge) were around 70-30 D. 

The WASP-Jewish difference has diminished, particularly in the Trump era.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Jews in Larchmont, say, probably voted quite differently from their non-Jewish neighbors.  Nowadays, there's probably no meaningful difference.

[King of Kensington]

From Politics in America (1983), describing then NY-20

Westchester's politics are determined at least as much by liberal Jewish suburbanites and more conservative middle class Italian neighborhoods as by Wasp enclaves.  Republicans have a small registration advantage in the redrawn 20th district, enhanced by the addition of GOP towns such as Eastchester and Mount Vernon...Jewish voters diluted the Republican sentiment in wealthy Scarsdale...Republicans have their bastions in Larchmont, Pelham and New Castle.  Map makers further bolstered GOP strength by adding several similar suburban enclaves such as Bronxville and Briarcliff Manor.

[King of Kensington]

Bronxville has few Jews even today and it is probably about as "WASP" as Westchester gets.  And even it went around 70% Biden.  It's thanks to Bronxville that Biden won the Town of Eastchester.

[King of Kensington]

And here's the voting history of Bronxville.  It voted D three times in its history: 2008, 2016, 2020.


https://www.myhometownbronxville.com/index.php/government/6717-how-bronxville-voted-in-the-2020-presidential-election

[King of Kensington]

Scarsdale and Great Neck were often mentioned as comparable affluent liberal Jewish suburbs.  But they've really diverged since 1980 as Great Neck has become more Persian and Orthodox.

[King of Kensington]

Westchester 1988 map:

https://twitter.com/Thorongil16/status/1603992402850725888/photo/1

Scarsdale noticeably more D, all the other elite areas are R. Jewish vote was more distinctive then.

[King of Kensington]

Looks like SW Scarsdale is less Jewish.  Russian and Eastern European ancestry less common in the SW census tract:

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/New-York/Scarsdale/Ancestry

[King of Kensington]

Larchmont has some blue as well in 1988 - I believe there's a lot of people in the arts, media, publishing etc. there.

[King of Kensington]

2020 vote:

Scarsdale  79-20 D
Bronxville  70-30 D
Pound Ridge  70-29 D
Rye  68-31 D