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COLUMNISTS
TODAY'S STORIES
05.02.2008
Chris's Dad, Connecticut Barometer

CNN has just called Connecticut for Obama. One number that immediately jumps out at me: According to CNN's exit polls, Clinton and Obama split the 30 percent of voters who were 60 or older (they got 48 percent a piece). That really bucks the demographic trends we see everywhere else. The only thought that comes to mind is that the Connecticut residents (Connecticucians? Help me out Chris...) who keep a home in Connecticut when they retire are former Wall Street types--relatively affluent and culturally liberal--while working-class Connecticucians retire to Florida.

I'm really just pulling that out of, er, the air, but that's the only thing I can think of at the moment.

Update: I'm kidding, of course, about Connecticucians. But isn't it strange that every other state you can think of has a descriptor based on its state name?

--Noam Scheiber

Posted: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 10:21 PM with 7 comment(s)

Comments

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Crock1701 said:

Nutmeggers Noam, Nutmeggers.

February 5, 2008 10:33 PM

virginiacentrist said:

Did Obama do well enough to get the Gore endorsement?

February 5, 2008 11:16 PM

Chris Orr said:

1) My dad was actually a chemistry professor, though I can think of a self-interested upside or two if he'd been a "Wall Street type." As for the broader demographic theory, I fear your guess is as good as mine.

2) As a Storrs native, I'm contractually obligated to go with "Huskies."

February 6, 2008 12:27 AM

Noam Scheiber said:

Chris, sorry, didn't mean to imply your dad was a Wall Street type. (I think I knew that he wasn't, though I dind't know he was a chemistry prof.) Just that he turned out to be a good indicator of where the 60+ demographic was headedin CT...

February 6, 2008 1:21 AM

Chris Orr said:

No need to sound so concerned, man. No offense (remotely) taken. And now that it's out there, I should probably confess that "chemistry professor" is really just an alias for my dad's WWF career. It's crazy--I keep begging him to quit--but, at 87, he still wrestles professionally under the monicker "The Alchemist." And, yes, he's persuasive in all the ways you'd suspect, given his profession. It's no wonder his demographic followed his lead on Obama.

February 6, 2008 1:44 AM

benjamin81 said:

My coworker from Connecticut says that they're called "Connecticutans." It's even funnier than "Michiganders."

February 6, 2008 11:05 AM

yukon said:

People from Connecticut are called "New Yorkers."

February 6, 2008 11:54 AM