Travis County, Texas: 2000 vs 2004

[Psychic Octopus]

Out of curiosity, why did Travis County (home of Austin) swing against Bush in 2004 when Bush actually increased his margin of victory in the state? He scraped by with a plurality in 2000 (46%, Nader won 10% of the vote) to win, while in 2004 he only grabbed 42% of the vote.

[bgwah]

Cuz it's Austin.

[phk]

A lot of Austin Liberals voted for Nader since it's Bush's home state and knew that Gore/Lieberman had no chance anyway.

[The_Texas_Libertarian]

Some of the more Democratic-lite parts in north Austin in Travis County have been trending Democratic over the past decade and now they are more along the lines of being solidly Democratic.

Also Bush's better performance in 2004 in Texas was largely due to his personal appeal to Hispanic voters.  In Texas I think he only lost the Hispanic vote by 1 percentage point.

Dallas County also saw a shift to the left despite Bush's better numbers state-wide

2000 Dallas County
Bush: 52.98%
Gore: 44.91%
Nader: 1.90%

2004 Dallas County
Bush: 50.35%
Kerry: 48.95%

[Kushahontas]

Cuz it's Austin.

[minionofmidas]

Demography in Central Texas is brutal for Republicans atm.