"Red" Putnam County (Carmel, Mahopac: vacation home, live, move to)

[jdf718]

If you look at the 2008 presidential voting trends, you immediately see that Putnam County is surrounded by a sea of blue - Litchfield, CT to the east; Dutchess to the north; Orange to the west; Westchester to the south. Most of the surrounding counties are overwhelmingly blue and yet Putnam by 10 points plus was red. If you go deeper, all 15 districts in Putnam voted for McCain. Can someone explain this to me? I've spent a fair amount of time in the area and wasn't aware of how different it was politically until I looked into it a little. Just curious about the cultural, historical reasons for what appears to be an anomaly.

[BuffaloTransplant]

if you want to see reality in the state, look to the west end. Except for the counties with large low class or poor populations, most went red, and lots of the towns in the blue counties went red.

The state is blue in areas with high concentrations of either poor and/or low class ( expecting handouts) or ultra liberal loons ( who want the rest of us to pay for the handouts)

[Pilgrim324]

I noticed the same thing..... Have been considering a move to either Westchester or Putnam County, and was surprised to see this political difference. I'm curious to know what's behind it, too!

[jdf718]

Friend of mine who lives in the area emailed me today -- said that a lot of NYC cops, firemen bought summer/vacation homes in the area of Carmel/Mahopac a couple of decades ago... and liked it so much they moved up there permanently to raise their families or retire. Also, there's said to be a lot of money in Garrison. These two factors might explain some of it