The obvious answer to the question to why Westchester votes more Democratic is that it has a lower percentage of NHWs than Nassau/Suffolk. But I'm wondering if there's more to it than that. Are Westchester whites significantly more liberal than Long Island whites? Some points to think about:
- The ethnic composition of the white population of both Westchester and Long Island seems pretty similar, both are heavily Italian American and Jewish and I don't think the proportions of either group are that different between the two areas. Westchester though is perceived as more old money "WASP" (and it probably is a bit more) - as it developed largely as a railroad suburb while Long Island is mostly 50s/60s suburbia - but it's not that high. So I don't think the ethnic composition of the white population provides much of an explanation.
- Westchester has a higher percentage of college and graduate degrees overall and when one looks at the white population alone it would be an ever big difference. In the New York area, it seems that college-educated, professional whites are more liberal than the non college-educated white working class/lower middle class. This likely breaks down at VERY high levels of income, which are of course found both in both Westchester and Long Island.
- Westchester has the "artsy" river towns (i.e. Hastings on Hudson, Tarrytown) which likely attracts a more liberal demographic than tract suburbia. I suppose Long Island has the Hamptons but that attracts wealth of all sorts (from tycoons to the Hollywood types - also how many of these people actually have their primary residences there?).
- Westchester wealth seems to come more from the "traditional path" (i.e. law firm partners, Wall St. etc.) while Long Island Island likely has more non-traditional sources of wealth (more self-made/entrepreneurial).
Westchester is closer to Manhattan, and Yonkers is a relatively large city (4th largest in NY, bigger than Syracuse or Albany) and about 1/5 of the county population. What might be thought of typical Westchester County (Rye or Tarrytown) are not actually typical of Westchester County.
When the modern 5-borough NYC was formed, Queens, the Bronx, and Queens were comparable in population, and totally dominated by the twin cities. The Bronx filled up before Queens, and the spillover into Westchester occurred much sooner than into Nassau.
1920: Westchester 344K, Nassau 128K.
By 1950: Nassau had barely caught Westchester, but then close to doubled in the 1950s, and it had a significant aircraft industry it is more classic suburban sprawl.
