Why is Connecticut Democratic?

[Suburbia]

Really?

It's the Northeast state that is one of the wealthiest in the country. It's a state that Bernie Sanders and AOC would complain about, WEALTH.

The state is filled with rich white people. Most of the workers in NYC live in CT (Fairfield County).

Is it the social progressivism?

[Roll Roons]

Because it's a socially liberal state. Though moderate Republicans are still decently strong in state and local elections.

[SevenEleven]

Having a high income in a high COL area doesn't count for very much. Most wealthy counties are Democratic.

[DINGO Joe]

I mean I would certainly have voted for Lowell Weicker over Lieberman any day, but that's not the political system we have these days.

[DINGO Joe]

Most of the workers in NYC live in CT (Fairfield County).

Uh, no.

[Sol]

It's worth noting that a decent % of CT is working class ex-industrial urban areas--still a Democratic demographic, particularly in New England.

[The Free North]

Most wealthy NYC suburbs were Romney/Clinton and won't vote for Trump. There are a lot of poorer cities as well which are staunch dem areas and the NW is similar to Vermont. Perhaps there is room for Rep growth in the East, but I don't know if that will be enough outside of a close gov race.

[SevenEleven]

Most wealthy NYC suburbs were Romney/Clinton and won't vote for Trump. There are a lot of poorer cities as well which are staunch dem areas and the NW is similar to Vermont. Perhaps there is room for Rep growth in the East, but I don't know if that will be enough outside of a close gov race.

Fairfield County has been over 50% Dem since 2000 and Obama 08 was higher than Clinton 16.

[ctrepublican512]

unions

[Alcibiades]

Connecticut is the type of place that in Europe would generally vote for the centre-right party. Indeed it was Republican at the presidential level in the 70s and 80s, turning D in 1992 and so far never looking back. College-educated and wealthy is part of it, as well as cosmopolitan, secular values, which explains why it turned Dem when many wealthy Southern and Midwestern suburbs didn’t.

As has been mentioned, until 2016, the richest areas of Fairfield County actually voted Republican (although these areas were far too small to influence the statewide vote) while the WWC has held up reasonably well by comparison to the rest of the country for Democrats.

[smoltchanov]

Many reasons. Very high share of college graduates is one of them. But, mostly, IMHO, Connecticut simply reflects present day reality, where social issues trump (sorry!) economic ones. In Connecticut's case - state's general social liberalism beats fiscal conservatism decisively. Strong "noblesse oblige" trait among considerable part of state's population - helps too.

[Sol]

Most wealthy NYC suburbs were Romney/Clinton and won't vote for Trump. There are a lot of poorer cities as well which are staunch dem areas and the NW is similar to Vermont. Perhaps there is room for Rep growth in the East, but I don't know if that will be enough outside of a close gov race.

Fairfield County has been over 50% Dem since 2000 and Obama 08 was higher than Clinton 16.

To be fair Fairfield has Bridgeport and Danbury and a few other decently large working class mostly nonwhite towns--it's not all Darien up there.

[Orser67]

CT is about middle of the pack in terms of the proportion of African-American and non-white voters, so a lot of it comes down to the fact that New England whites are relatively Democratic-leaning. You can see from these projected maps made by 538 prior to the 2018 election that CT is one of the few states where even non-college educated white voters lean towards the Democratic Party. And this 2016 map of same-sex marriages by zip code is, as Nate Cohn puts, "basically a map of white liberalism."

CT also has some of the highest bachelor and advanced degree attainment rates, and all but one of the counties in the state is part of a metropolitan statistical area (meaning it's part of a metro area with an urban core of at least 50k people). The one exception is Torrington County, which is part of the broader New York Combined Statistical Area.

[Non Swing Voter]

The same reason Fairfax County, VA is.  The same reason Orange County, CA is.  Westchester, NY and on and on.

What wealthy, college educated areas do Republicans even win anymore? 

Also, CT isn't as white as this post implies.  It's 65% white non-hispanic

[Indy Texas]

Greenwich/the Gold Coast != Connecticut

New Haven outside of Yale is a pretty hardscrabble nonwhite city. Eastern Connecticut has a lot of former factory towns and has a lot in common historically and culturally with Rhode Island and central Massachusetts.