How did Trump win Fairfield County so big?

[Thunderbird is the word]

I'm surprised that Trump won Fairfield County by as big a margin as he did. That's peak Country Club Republican territory, towns like Darien, Wilton and New Cannen especially I thought for sure would be plalces Kasich would clean up in. Maybe the rich Republicans just ended up going for there fellow tristate area rich guy.

[The Other Castro]

Well, at least Kasich did end up winning Darien, Westport, and New Canaan, and came up just short in Wilton. There were just too many Trump voters elsewhere.

[Stańczyk]

You've forgotten the reality of New England, that is that while there are plenty of wealthy, educated areas (especially in places like Fairfield County) there are also areas that are essentially eastern extensions of the Rust Belt. Italian and Irish are still the largest ancestries in Fairfield rather than WASP, and Family Guy notably said Bridgeport is "among the world leaders in abandoned buildings, shattered glass, boarded-up windows, wild dogs, and gas stations without pumps." It's the same story as in similarly wealthy (or stereotypically wealthy) areas such as southern NH and eastern MA.

[Camaro33]

Allow me to add a bit here. Lifelong Fairfield County resident here.

Fairfield County is tilt Democrat in any general or statewide election. If you exclude Bridgeport, Fairfield County becomes Safe Republican. Bridgeport IS NOT the reason for Trump winning. The county is fiscally conservative, socially moderate to liberal, very wealthy, very white, and very stuck-up and arrogant. This is true for all Democrats and Republicans who live here regardless of their party registration or voting habits. Trump wins that description alone. Also, since in CT you have to be registered D/R to vote in respective primaries, and with much higher CT Democrat registration, the Republican registered voters tend to be more hardline Republican than average - and these people will vote for the hardline guy.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Allow me to add a bit here. Lifelong Fairfield County resident here.

Fairfield County is tilt Democrat in any general or statewide election. If you exclude Bridgeport, Fairfield County becomes Safe Republican. Bridgeport IS NOT the reason for Trump winning. The county is fiscally conservative, socially moderate to liberal, very wealthy, very white, and very stuck-up and arrogant. This is true for all Democrats and Republicans who live here regardless of their party registration or voting habits. Trump wins that description alone. Also, since in CT you have to be registered D/R to vote in respective primaries, and with much higher CT Democrat registration, the Republican registered voters tend to be more hardline Republican than average - and these people will vote for the hardline guy.

You hit the nail on the head re: stuck up and arrogant. I grew up there and though I haven't lived there since I was 19 I still remember quite well it being some of my earliest exposure to politics. It's funny though that it never really felt like solid blue territory to me. In 2004 I saw an even number of Bush and Kerry signs.

[Joe Republic]

Fairfield was Trump's worst county in CT. 

Though to your point, it was also Kasich's best.

[HAnnA MArin County]

A Connecticut friend of mine told me that Fairfield County is mostly suburban New York City. Perhaps it's just regional appeal, since Donald has swept the Northeast minus the fake election/caucus they had in Maine.

[Seriously?]

Trump winning Fairfield doesn't shock me. It's basically an extension of Westchester County, NY, which Trump also won handily, but by a narrower margin than the state average.

The NYC tri-state Area is Trump's home base.

[Thunderbird is the word]

I guess it makes perfect sense that he'd be doing so well in the northeast and south, the northeast likes an obnoxious loudmouth and the south likes a chintzy con artist.

[Alcon]

I'm interested specifically in people's thoughts about how Trump pulled off a (plurality) win in Greenwich.  It can't be lack of Republicans (Republicans have an easy plurality in registration).  I'm also not sure the "Trump appeals to rich people because he's stuck-up" argument flies, considering how badly Trump got trounced in areas with comparable demographics elsewhere.  Are there really that many commuters to NYC in Greenwich?  The median commute time doesn't really suggest it.  I know nothing about this area.  Could it just be broader, cross-demographic cultural appeal?  Greenwich's socioeconomic profile aside, its ethnic make-up (lots of Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans) has previously skewed toward Trump.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Trump's support has consistently been more demographically even than you'd think from media coverage (duh: you can't win a Republican primary with the supposed electoral coalition he has) and this is particularly true in the north east of the U.S.A. Of course this has partially been obscured by bizarre and outdated assumptions (e.g. if someone has an accent and a surname ending in a vowel then they're working class. LMAO). As is often the case on Atlas a lot of you are making the mistake of conflating stereotype and reality and being bemused when the latter refuses to resemble the former.

[Camaro33]

This is true. All of Fairfield County is an extension of NYC area. Almost half the people here commute there.

Trump winning Fairfield doesn't shock me. It's basically an extension of Westchester County, NY, which Trump also won handily, but by a narrower margin than the state average.

The NYC tri-state Area is Trump's home base.