Why does Somerset County NJ vote Dem?

[Tekken_Guy]

Somerset County is a suburban rural county located mostly away from the densely populated cities, but Obama and Hillary won it the last 3 times, in spite of similar counties like Morris and Hunterdon staying GOP. Why is that?

[Brittain33]

Somerset County is a suburban rural county located mostly away from the densely populated cities, but Obama and Hillary won it the last 3 times, in spite of similar counties like Morris and Hunterdon staying GOP. Why is that?

Somerset County is substantially more diverse than Morris and Hunterdon, and has a highly educated population. Look at how neighboring Middlesex and Mercer vote. Somerset lies between the two pairs of counties literally and demographically, and all of these counties vote more Democratic than you'd expect if they were in a different part of the country.

[Lord Admirale]

Unsure, I was sure it was gonna go GOP this year, but Trump was a bad fit for NJ, so it stayed D.

[TheSaint250]

Unsure, I was sure it was gonna go GOP this year, but Trump was a bad fit for NJ, so it stayed D.

It would've been great if he put a yuge dent in Hillary's NJ margin.

[Lord Admirale]

Unsure, I was sure it was gonna go GOP this year, but Trump was a bad fit for NJ, so it stayed D.

It would've been great if he put a yuge dent in Hillary's NJ margin.

People loathe Trump in New Jersey

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Wow finally my county appears on Atlas!

As other posters said, Somerset is a very rich, educated, and diverse county. However, if you look at a precinct map, you see it gets more Republican when you go from south to north.



The deep-red blob in the south is Franklin Township (where I'm from), and it has very similar demographics to neighboring Middlesex county. Namely, it has a large concentration of blacks, Hispanics, and Indians, all groups that generally vote Dem. The surrounding towns like Montgomery also break more Dem, though they have more whites and East Asians. Then as you go north, the towns get whiter and more Republican (until you reach Trump's Bedminster golf course ).

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Also, Somerset is definitely "not" located far from densely populated cities. It borders New Brunswick, which is heavily populated and is home to the central campus of Rutgers University, and it also borders Princeton, the obvious home of Princeton University. It's also less than an hour away from New York City and Philadelphia.

And it's definitely more suburban than rural.

[pikachu]

Unsure, I was sure it was gonna go GOP this year, but Trump was a bad fit for NJ, so it stayed D.

It would've been great if he put a yuge dent in Hillary's NJ margin.

As someone originally from the area, Somerset, and the rest of the NJ counties on the Northeast corridor, are lost for the GOP on the presidential level at this point. Even just beyond Trump being literally the worst possible fit for the area, it's diversifying pretty rapidly (fallen from 62% white to 58% in just half a decade).

[hopper]

Wow finally my county appears on Atlas!

As other posters said, Somerset is a very rich, educated, and diverse county. However, if you look at a precinct map, you see it gets more Republican when you go from south to north.



The deep-red blob in the south is Franklin Township (where I'm from), and it has very similar demographics to neighboring Middlesex county. Namely, it has a large concentration of blacks, Hispanics, and Indians, all groups that generally vote Dem. The surrounding towns like Montgomery also break more Dem, though they have more whites and East Asians. Then as you go north, the towns get whiter and more Republican (until you reach Trump's Bedminster golf course ).

Franklin 2010 Non- White US Census Demographics:

27% Black
20% Asian
13% Hispanic

[hopper]

Somerset County is a suburban rural county located mostly away from the densely populated cities, but Obama and Hillary won it the last 3 times, in spite of similar counties like Morris and Hunterdon staying GOP. Why is that?

Somerset County is substantially more diverse than Morris and Hunterdon, and has a highly educated population. Look at how neighboring Middlesex and Mercer vote. Somerset lies between the two pairs of counties literally and demographically, and all of these counties vote more Democratic than you'd expect if they were in a different part of the country.

Somerset County Demographics 2016:

57% White
18% Asian
15% Hispanic
10% Black

The Fastest Growing Ethnic Group in the County is Asians(from 2010 to 2016) which grew from being 14% of the Counties Population in 2010 to 18% of the Counties Population in 2016. Hispanics only grew to being 15% of the counties population in 2016 from being 13% of the counties population in 2010. Blacks only grew by a single point from 2010 to 2016: 9% in 2010 to 10% in 2016.

[hopper]

Unsure, I was sure it was gonna go GOP this year, but Trump was a bad fit for NJ, so it stayed D.

He actually did well in the Southern Half of Jersey but in the Northern Half of Jersey he did badly which is where most of Jersey's population is.