ELECTORAL VOTES 31

2008 ELECTION Safe Obama

ABOUT
NEW YORK

New York, one of the 13 original colonies, joined the Union in July 1788. However, the state did not choose electors in the first election due to an internal dispute. In the 1810 census, New York became the nation’s most populous state, and had the most electoral votes from the 1812 election until the 1972 election, when it relinquished that distinction to California. Texas surpassed New York in those numbers in 2004. Like many other northeastern states, New York’s electoral clout has diminished in recent years, losing at least two electoral votes in each of the last six censuses. That trend may continue in 2012, when at least one, and possibly two more electoral votes will be lost, based on the outcome of the 2010 census. New York has been primarily a “blue” state ever since the Great Depression, only siding with a losing Republican when it chose its then-current governor Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman in 1948. In 2004, John Kerry easily defeated George W. Bush by 18% in the state.