The reason might be not overt racism, but the fact that affluent blue-state families are likely to move to the suburbs or send their children to private school.
The vote in affluent suburbs went blue Tuesday too.
They form an odd sight on the once-mean, now-trendy streets of Bucktown and Wicker Park: The bespectacled alderman of a young, affluent ward and his blue-collar aide, popping sewer grates and wielding shovels.
We're seeing 14, 15 year-old kids addicted to heroin, blond-haired, blue-eyed, suburban, affluent kids".
"Rhiwbina is quite an affluent area but people saw my blue rosette and were supportive.
So affluent, influential people eat more Brie; blue-collar folks eat more Velveeta.
But the surrounding suburbs, with their pockets of educated, affluent whites alongside struggling communities of blue-collar whites, are expected to be a battleground.
Still, as Columbia University's Andrew Gelman points out, the really striking red-blue voting divide is among the affluent: High-income residents of red states are overwhelmingly Republican; high-income residents of blue states only mildly more Republican than their poorer neighbors.
And yes, I'm aware of Andrew Gelman's work (pdf) showing that the big difference between red and blue states is how the relatively affluent vote.
Alternately you can view the highest performing schools by county, reflected in blue and concentrated mainly in more affluent areas in the Northeast.
This is a reflection of its recent struggle to determine whether it ought to concentrate on its traditional blue-collar customers or woo more affluent shoppers.
