Democratic Defeat in NY-9 : This is largely about white working-class voters : the last of the “Archie Bunkers.” - The median income for the district is about $55,000 a year, which is the lowest of any of the non-majority minority districts in the city area

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Firefighters, policemen and Russian Jews :

Last night, Republican Bob Turner won a surprisingly strong victory in New York's 9th Congressional District.

NY-9 has this Demography : Jews 25%, Italians 12%, Irish 7% .... - It’s an impressive gerrymander.

Real Clear Politics
New York-9 and the Democratic Coalition
By Sean Trende
September 14, 2011


New York-9 and the Democratic Coalition


Some excerpts :

As you can see, this is largely a combination of white precincts in central Queens and South Brooklyn. It’s an impressive gerrymander; standing alone, South Brooklyn would be about a 55 percent McCain district, even allowing for some voters in the 13th. It would be easy to make this a Democratic stronghold, but it would come at a cost of jeopardizing minority control of the neighboring districts. Although it is only 62 percent white, it is also only 4 percent black; Latinos and Asians in the district vote less proportionately than their white and African American counterparts.

Moreover, these are working-class whites; the last of the “Archie Bunkers.” Many of the firefighters and police officers who gave their lives on 9/11 hailed from this district. The median income for the district is about $55,000 a year, which is the lowest of any of the non-majority minority districts in the city area. By contrast, in all four suburban Long Island districts, the median income is around $80,000 a year. Many of the surviving white ethnic communities are in this district; 12 percent of the district still identifies as Italian, 7 percent as Irish.

Estimates of the Jewish population are more difficult to calculate, but Jews probably constitute about 25 percent of the population (and are probably higher as a share of the electorate). While the most heavily Orthodox Jewish communities such as Borough Park (about 70 percent for McCain) are strategically placed in other districts, the Jewish voters here still tend to be more conservative than the Jewish communities around Miami or in Manhattan. Many are Russian immigrants (around 7 percent of the district) who tend to lack affinity for government intervention in the economy. Still, while the Jewish presence is significant, it can’t explain everything that is going on here.

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