Talk Elections

How did Nixon do so well in NYC in 1972? He won Queens and obviously Staten Island, got 33% in Manhattan, 45% in the Bronx, and lost Brooklyn by just 14K votes. Given that McGovern was a cultural and social liberal, I would think he would have done better in NYC.

Because McGovern was a Godawful candidate, who did terribly almost everywhere.
Also, Queens used to be much more GOP-friendly than it is now.

According to Theodore White, Nixon won Italian-Americans with 51% of the vote compared to 22% in 1968 and Polish Americans got 30% among Polish-Americans compared to 12% just 4 years before. That, extrapolated to other ethnic groups, probably explains it.

Historically Democratic demographics who disliked the upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Also Nixon governed as centre-left on economics which meant made it easier for white urban/ethnics to switch over. Unlike say 1984 where Reagan's economic rightwing policies couldn't turn out as much of those 1972 Nixon voters.

Eisenhower also came close to winning NYC, despite not winning as big a landslide as Nixon in 1972.

The Rockefeller/Javits coalition and the James Buckley presence made a significant difference as well.  Nixon won NY State by the largest plurality in 1972 (passing California and Texas)-almost 60 percent of the vote.

Likely by 1984, most of those Nixon voters left NYC to other places.  The population of NYC took a staggering drop in the 1970s.