Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Dems -- The New Reality

The Democratic sweep in Bloomfield's Mayoral/Council election yesterday can't be blamed on The GOP campaign gaffs or any one single issue.

It wasn't the expensive mailings or robocalls,
It wasn't the yard signs.
It wasn't the unexpected endorsements by Joanow and McCarthy.
It wasn't any of the issues raised from pay to play to forensic audits.
It wasn't high taxes or overdevelopment.
It wasn't the candidates responses to questions during the Candidates' Forum.y

It was demographics. The fact that the final tally showed only small variations in the numbers between the 3 council candidates of each party is further evidence that votes were cast for the party lines rather than any individual candidate.
The last 15 years have seen two national census reports that illustrate Bloomfield's steady shift from a solidly Republican town to a reliably Democratic town.

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 28,398 registered voters in Bloomfield, of which 11,925 (42.0%) were registered as Democrats, 4,393 (15.5%) were registered as Republicans and 12,061 (42.5%) were registered as Unaffiliated. This reality has been reflected in presidential politics for some time.(Click on graphic to enlarge,) In the last  3 election cycle the Democratic advantage appears to have reached point of no returns for just about any Republican candidate.