Boca Raton is in Palm Beach county which voted 60% Kerry and 40% Bush. Here's how they get so isolated. Groups of couples who have been friends all of their lives decide to retire to Florida together, mostly from New York city. Many are Jewish. It is their sticking together and not participating in the larger society that renders them isolated and afraid.
As my parents live there, I know it well. My dad used to have his office right above Robert Wexler's and rode the elevator with him on many occassions.