That is when I fled NY, a state where I was born and raised and loved - at least the upstate part of it.
The job situation and taxes were bad then and that is what drove us out. Now they are much worse. Plus the Cuomo Crime Family still runs the joint.
The majority of upstaters are as conservative as anybody anywhere else but they are outnumbered and oppressed by the teeming Liberal masses and their criminal Liberal (but, I repeat myself) politicians from downstate.
Politically speaking, I would imagine that long Island, New York City, and Buffalo set the tone.
CA, PA, IL etc have the same problem, and the lib-dems are a virus disease spreading to other states, unchecked. They ruined and destroyed the big cities, education, gov’t, almost everywhere. TX is even going blue near the bottom, if you look at 2004-08-12 GE (county) maps.