Shaleah Craighead / Lawrence Jackson, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The results of the 2024 election have revealed a stark shift in the voting habits of New York City residents. And although Upper West Siders still vote predominantly Democratic, the neighborhood is a much lighter shade of blue than it was in 2020.
Advertisement
A study by the City University of New York Center for Urban Research visually depicts how NYC voted in the recent election compared to 2020. The map, which breaks the city’s overall votes down by election district, reveals that while every UWS district produced a majority Democratic vote, GOP support increased by at least 7% in five UWS districts compared to 2020, with GOP support in two districts growing by 10%.
Free Upper West Side News, Delivered To Your Inbox
These election districts roughly cover the following areas of the UWS:
- West 109th to West 111th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus (10.9% increase since 2020)
- West 102nd to West 104th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus (10% increase since 2020)
- West 61st to West 63rd streets between West End and Amsterdam (9.9% increase since 2020)
- West 100th to West 104th streets between Manhattan Avenue and Columbus (9.7% increase since 2020)
- West 90th to West 91st streets between Columbus and Amsterdam, eastern half of block (7% increase since 2020)
Another map, created by nonprofit news site The City, shows how each election district voted overall, and several pockets of the Upper West Side are visibly less blue than their neighbors.
Advertisement
One of those pockets can be found along Riverside Boulevard between 59th and 70th streets, where Trump got between 22.5% and 22.8% of the vote.
The stretch between 60th and 63rd streets and from Columbus to Central Park West also saw about 20% support for Trump, substantially higher than most of the neighborhood; most UWS election districts fell roughly within the 10-12% range.
According to CBS News election data, Trump support grew in Manhattan by 10.83% overall since 2020. The CUNY study reveals that 13 Manhattan election districts produced a majority Republican vote in 2024, compared to zero in 2020. Those 13 districts include pockets of Chinatown, Two Bridges, and the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, as well as Fort George and Inwood in Upper Manhattan. One GOP-leaning district covers East 53rd to East 62nd streets between Park and Fifth avenues, the area surrounding Trump Tower.
The Upper East Side Got Even More Trump Support: Read More
Outer boroughs saw a bigger swing, with Trump support growing 21.59% in Queens and 21.96% in the Bronx. Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, areas that both leaned Republican in 2020, also grew GOP support in 2024. Despite the shift, NYC’s majority still favored Harris at 68% compared to 30% for Trump.
“Things like ‘defund the police’ or some of the over-woke-ization of social issues were alienating to voters, some of them who had historically voted Democratic,” Jake Dilemani, a Democratic strategist, told the New York Post.
“Democrats really have to come to terms with the growth of the Republican party in nonwhite, outer borough areas,” the Republican minority leader of the City Council, Joseph C. Borelli, told The New York Times.
Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
