McCain got creamed in South Central to South Eastern. (Well, he won, but way underperformed Bush) York, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Berks, Chester. Also the Lehigh Valley and NEPA.
South Central is becoming a cultural suburb of I-95. Philly and Baltimore aren’t far away.
Here’s 2004 for South Central - to southeast
Adams 32.6% 13,764 66.9% 28,247 0.5% 217 +15K
Berks 46.4% 76,309 53.0% 87,122 0.6% 1,056 +10K
Chester 47.5% 109,708 52.0% 120,036 0.5% 1,079 +10K
Cumberl 35.8% 37,928 63.8% 67,648 0.5% 506 +30K
Dauphin 45.6% 55,299 53.9% 65,296 0.5% 613 +10K
Lancast 33.6% 74,328 65.8% 145,591 0.6% 1,359 +71K
Lebanon 32.5% 18,109 66.6% 37,089 0.8% 467 +19K
York 35.5% 63,701 63.7% 114,270 0.7% 1,298 +51K
Bush got 216K more votes than Kerry in those 8 counties.
Here’s 2008 (to this point)
Adams Obama 17,475 40% McCain 26,134 59% +9K
Berks Obama 91,803 54% McCain 75,868 45% -16K
chester O 135,150 54% M 112,266 45% -23K
cumber O 45,355 43% M 59,693 56% +14K
dauphin O 69,352 54% M 57,964 45% -12K
lanc O 97,290 43% M 124,475 56% +27K
Lebanon O 22,004 40% M 32,325 59% +10K
york O 81,748 43% M 107,367 56% +26K
McCain got 35K more votes than Obama in those 8 counties.
That’s a loss of 181K votes from 2004.
I should add that right now it looks like Obama won by 600k.
Kerry won by 145K.
Obama got 455K more than Kerry.
181K of those came from those 8 Philly / Baltimore exurb type counties.
274K of those came from elsewhere.
Another thing to note is how well Ron Paul did in those counties. Around 20%.
McCain was a dick to Ron Paul throughout, and never tried one bit to get votes from Ron Paul supporters.