Pinellas and Pasco Counties

[VPH]

Why did both counties swing GOP in 2016? Aren't they mostly suburban?

[Sumner 1868]

Drumpf won most suburbs. I don't know why people ignore that.

[Tintrlvr]

"Suburbs" didn't swing towards Clinton. Wealthy, highly educated and economically dynamic suburbs, especially those that are relatively young, swung towards Clinton. Pasco and Pinellas Counties are none of these. They're mid-market, low-education areas heavy on elderly voters with little economic vitality beyond the servicing of retirees. Also, both are heavily white (especially, in the case of Pinellas County, for a county that contains a mid-sized city with a large minority population).

[VPH]

"Suburbs" didn't swing towards Clinton. Wealthy, highly educated and economically dynamic suburbs, especially those that are relatively young, swung towards Clinton. Pasco and Pinellas Counties are none of these. They're mid-market, low-education areas heavy on elderly voters with little economic vitality beyond the servicing of retirees. Also, both are heavily white (especially, in the case of Pinellas County, for a county that contains a mid-sized city with a large minority population).

Ahh, I wasn't aware they were lower education areas.

[Arbitrage1980]

Trump won suburbs by 5 points; Romney won them by 2. Most suburbs are not affluent. Where Trump lost the most ground compared to Romney were the upper crust areas made up of highly educated whites making $200K+: Seattle burbs, SF bay area, san diego county, Chicago north shore burbs, northern Virginia, Westchester county New York, Fairfield county Connecticut, Boston suburbs. But with the exception of VA, none of those are in swing states, so Trump lost popular votes without sacrificing anything in the electoral college.