How did George Bush win New Jersey so handily in 1988?

[Sumner 1868]

Bush did especially well with suburban voters that year.

Pretty much this. Bush really struck a chord with suburban voters terrified of finding a Willie Horton in their backyard, which is also why he was able to pull out a win in Maryland.

Funny how that rhetoric really struck a chord with "Moderate Hero FF" suburbanites, while Coal Country stayed strong for the Democrats.

coal country's loyalty to the democrats during the reagan revolution is one of the most amazing facts in american political history. Reagan got his butt handed to him in eastern kentucky, and HW Bush likewise got mauled there.

I do not get it.

Why would they vote for the governing party under who they lost 53% of their jobs? Child poverty in McDowell County alone rose from 31% in 1980 to 50.3% in 1990. Not very morning in America. It's no wonder they only became receptive to Republicans when things deteriorated even worse in the Slick Willie era.

[Sumner 1868]

Bill Clinton deserves a lot of credit for helping to reduce crime

No. Crime rates had already been slowing falling for a couple years before he took office and the "solution" he came up with was not worth it any perceived "benefit" that came.