Why was there a swing to Al Gore in Maryland in 2000?

[Phony Moderate]

Maryland was the only state to 'buck the trend' in 2000. What, if any, were the reasons for this?

[sg0508]

Not sure what you're referring to.  Clinton/Gore both won the state by 16 pts in '96/'00.

[Phony Moderate]

Not sure what you're referring to.  Clinton/Gore both won the state by 16 pts in '96/'00.

And there was a swing of 0.41% to Gore in 2000, whereas the national swing was about 8% to Bush.

[minionofmidas]

There also was a swing to Gore in DC.

More relevantly, the smallest swings to Bush were in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,  and California (not in order). See where this is going? Affluent inner suburban voters the Republicans were starting to lose on Social Issues (from '92 on). Especially, in 2000, guns.

[SingingAnalyst]

There also was a swing to Gore in DC.

More relevantly, the smallest swings to Bush were in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,  and California (not in order). See where this is going? Affluent inner suburban voters the Republicans were starting to lose on Social Issues (from '92 on). Especially, in 2000, guns.

True, but CT is partly explainable by Lieberman. Blacks liked the Clinton legacy and feared the weakening of social and affirmative action as well as racial profiling under Bush, and voted for Gore in what were then record numbers. This explains his performance in MD and DC and counteracted the huge white swing toward Bush in the deep south.

[Thunderbird is the word]

The small swing to Bush in CT was probably due more to his consolidating the Perot vote from 96 then anything. In 2004 due to fear of terrorism all the New York area suburbs had a slight GOP swing before swinging back to the Democrats in 08 because of the mortgage crises.