It is weird too, Clinton essentially did worse than Kerry in nearly every county except for Bronx, Queens, Kings, and New York counties.
What I wanna know is why Gore did so amazingly well in downstate New York. He wrecked Bush in all five NYC boroughs, and all thorough Long Island. Bush went from having the 3rd best performance for a Republican in New York in the 21st century (2000) to having the best performance for a Republican in New York in the 21st century (2004).
Gun control politics.
This. Gun control was a huge issue in the 2000 election, maybe the number one issue (Social Security reform/privatization being the only other real contender). Plus Lieberman was on the ballot, so more conservative Jews (of which most nationwide are concentrated in the NY area) who otherwise vote Republican mostly voted for Gore.
