Also, Liberal is a bad word in most of what geographically constitutes the state of New York. If New York City were 60-40 Democrat then New York would be a Republican state.
Wrong. Obama won upstate New York with around 56% of the vote. That's without New York City (or the inner suburbs: Long Island, Westchester and Rockland) at all.
Also keep in mind that McCain only won two upstate CDs.
You are right that "liberal" doesn't describe upstate New York all that well. Although that is definitely changing.
Yes, though it is still less conservative than most non-urban areas outside the Northeast.
