Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Boston Election Results – neighborhood details

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Turnout Summary

Citywide voter turnout in presidential elections has increased significantly in the last 8 years, from 188K in 2000 to 203K in 2004 to 234K in 2008.  The biggest increases are in non-white / liberal-voting neighborhoods like Chinatown (up 95% since 2000), Grove Hall (up 60% since 2000), and Fields Corner (up 56% since 2000).  The smallest increases are in white / conservative-voting neighborhoods like West Roxbury (up 4% since 2000), Readville (up 7% since 2000), and south-white Dorchester (up 12% since 2000).

The range of neighborhood turnouts is relatively small.  The highest-turnout neighborhoods are only turning out about 20%-40% more than the lowest-turnout neighborhoods.  In low-turnout elections like odd-year city elections, the range can be 200%-300%.    The lesson here:  the higher the overall turnout, the better it is for non-white / liberal candidates.

These results follow similar trends in lower-turnout elections for state and local offices.  This is encouraging news for non-white / liberal candidates who can now run in elections that are no longer dominated by white-conservative voters.

Candidate / Ballot Question Summary

Barak Obama got 79% of the votes in Boston.  He got 95%+ of the votes in high non-white neighborhoods like Roxbury, Mattapan, Grove Hall, and the Blue Hill Avenue / Washington Street Corridor.  He got about 60% of the vote in high white neighborhoods like South Boston, West Roxbury, Readville, and south-white Dorchester.

The No on Question 1 vote (to keep the state income tax) got 71% of the votes. The range was not as large as in the presidential race.  It did best in liberal-voting neighborhoods like Jamaica Plain (81%), Melville Park / Ashmont Hill (77%) and Mattapan (76%).  It did worst in high-income white neighborhoods like Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and the West End (about 64%), but these numbers are still pretty high.

The Yes on Question 2 vote (to decriminalize pot) got 65% of the votes.  It did best student neighborhoods like Allston, Brighton, the Fenway and also in liberal-voting ones like Jamaica Plain and the South End (70% – 74%).  It did worst in a mix of neighborhoods like Chinatown, East Boston, Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and south-white Dorchester (54% – 58%).

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Comments

  1. I am interested in those numbers also, so I can figure out how various congressional and legislative districts voted.

  3. … has unofficial city-wide totals.

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    p>For older elections, they have precinct-level results, so I expect they will eventually have the official 2008 results up on their site.

    • There are some Boston results here:

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      p>http://www.cityofboston.gov/el…

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      p>Nothing is in a format that can be used electronically.

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      p>FYI:  All of the precinct level results are entered by each city and town into a central database maintained by Secretary of State Galvin’s office.  As far as I know, these public records are unavailable to the public.

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      p>

  5. Thanks for the post Bob, I like the precinct numbers because I like to see what happened in places like Bay Village, in Mission Park and Wallingford Road for the Russian vote, in 3-1 for the “Waterfront” vote, etc.

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    p>In some neighborhod, like Dorchester and Allston-Brighton, you can see the progressive-conservative splits by precinct depending on the issues and the people running.  

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    p>So, for those of us who are numbers junkies, we’ll take whatever you’ve got to give.  Again, thanks.

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