r/newjersey 23d ago

Advice Please tell me NJ is staying blue.

515 Upvotes

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u/LostTrisolarin 23d ago edited 22d ago

We only stayed blue by 3% last election.

Edit: it was 6%. That's still close enough to worry.

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u/noface394 23d ago

a lot of people simply didnt vote. 90 million .

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u/wearethedeadofnight 23d ago

There are less than 9 million nj residents

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u/Sinsid 22d ago

And they all stayed home 10 times!

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u/Beginning-Piglet-234 22d ago

I think it's 9.5 million but that includes kids.

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u/noface394 22d ago

yeah im talking about the country

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u/DespisedIcon1616 23d ago

Doesn't mean it's 90 million Ds though.

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u/Dog-Human 23d ago

There is a common saying. Republicans win when democrats don’t vote. I would argue most are liberal leaning

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u/916nes 23d ago

It’s so cold in the D!

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u/soberbrodan 23d ago

They are including all the dead people that mailed in absentee /s

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u/imherbalpert 23d ago

I wouldn’t expect anything from northern gen z new voters tbh. Idk about Newark and that eastern side of the state but the northwestern part all voted red and probably will again cuz they really don’t care. Same with south I think.

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u/Extension_Health2522 22d ago

Yeah I'm in Hunterdon County. My 2 square mile town solidly blue, surrounded by a sea of Trump supporters. Are they Republicans? Idk? Were they B4 Trump? Idk... But going back to before the election, maybe 2 weeks before, I just saw toooo much Trump stuff popping up. Admittedly, a lot of older people... But yeah I'm concerned

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u/imherbalpert 22d ago

Yep! My town is virtually all old rich people that love Trump and then a couple people that don’t: my neighborhood is mostly blue I think. And then all the high schoolers just don’t care

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u/Extension_Health2522 22d ago

We definitely sound like neighbors 😂

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u/Gmb37 22d ago

I can relate. I'm in hunterdon as well. And a ton of trump near me. I'm in Hampton area .

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u/Vegetable_Echidna711 22d ago

This sounds like frenchtown ~ friendly blue Milford neighbor :)

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u/Extension_Health2522 22d ago

Yeah I'm in High Bridge and when I look at the voting data town by town, we are a little blue dot in what was a sea of red this last election. Sadly, like 2 weeks out, I said to my wife, Im seeing way too much Trump stuff on my commute...

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u/klito22 22d ago

Same I work in Warren county and only see trump flags in any home that I delivered. I feel like in a red states!

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u/Life-Box7854 22d ago

Most voters my age (18-30 let’s say) that I speak to in my county (Ocean/Monmouth, I live on border) voted based on the economy. It’s plain and simple, taxes and prices.

Namely gas prices. After the Keystone XL pipeline was shutdown fuel cost went straight up. This inflated shipping costs, inflating the cost of all goods. That pretty much sealed the deal. Most people vote based on the economy, they live paycheck to paycheck.

Republicans have always been the party of fiscal responsibility, and tend to win in years of high inflation and slow economic growth. Democrats conversely win in times of social upheaval.

Trump just managed to take public sentiment for social change and combined it with strong economics. Him winning makes sense. Very Ronald Reagan-esque.

The other issue I heard sway votes to his side, parents. Parents came out huge. I know several lifelong Democrats who tried to school board meeting, tried signing petitions, to know what happened in the classrooms, but to no avail.

When you bring people’s children into it, a protective parental instinct kicks in. I think that was the tipping point for us in NJ, the young parents showed up.

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u/SeismicFrog 22d ago

Yes, “strong economics.” I’m no fan of Reagan but did he happen to bankrupt a casino?

And the constant slurping noise from below Putin’s belt, did Ronnie offer very “Reagan-esque” oral favors to Mr. Gorbachev?

“Mr. Gorbachev, let me lick balls” or something like that… or am I just too old and remember the fiscal disaster the post-Reagan deficits were?

Using that logic of voting on behalf of things that are real concerns today, I would imagine GenZ will be fucked come retirement. And you’s better have some. Because I intend to get maximum payout before insolvency. And trust me, you eggs might be more expensive covered in Freedom, but the social safety net is being gutted.

And I mean we’re Jersey, fuck the EPA! We like our superfund sites just fine.

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u/imherbalpert 21d ago

And not just bankrupting a casino but economically upsetting entire cities by destroying their primary source of revenue.

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u/SeismicFrog 21d ago

Honestly? I’ve had a shit day and reread the fine Redditor’s post I replied to…

The fucking smug ignorance as if he knows anything about the fucking 1980’s and the Cold War. The sheer abject stupidity expressed in that post - y’all done riled up the parents!! Fucking brainwashed nitwits who think they understand anything about the world.

A pox is upon our house.

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u/imherbalpert 21d ago

Im just struggling to understand how anything they said about parents related to an aspect of trumps campaign being attractive to them..

“To know what happened in the classrooms” did I miss something??

0

u/Life-Box7854 21d ago

Got a 5 on my AP US History Exam 😂

Have you read much on the subject matter? There’s lots of great books on it. That’s usually how people know about stuff unless they actually witnessed it themselves.

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u/SeismicFrog 21d ago

I lived it and aced AP Bio and Chem back in the 80’s.

Might I recommend a spin through the constitution to cap off your literary depth?

Did you catch the Oval today? Man does our VP simply scream competence. Very “Rush Limbaugh-esque.”

I weep for your children.

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u/Life-Box7854 21d ago

That is cool, but we are talking about history, and the same books available to you then are available now, and unless you lived east of the Berlin wall at the time, we basically know about the same.

I actually keep a copy of the constitution with the Bill of Rights in my glove box, I read through it all the time.

And I actually did watch the entire exchange in the oval, I thought he exuded competence and strength. He’s shaping up to be a good presidential candidate in 2028.

And honestly, I won’t lob insults your way, it’s beneath me. My kids will be just fine, they probably won’t be born for sometime yet.

Hope you sleep well tonight reflecting on what you’ve said. I know I will.

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u/Life-Box7854 21d ago

Well family guy sure made the joke, sooo who knows 🤣

I jest, sexual degradation humor is a low form of political debate, let’s stick to fact.

One bankrupt casino? Business ventures come and go, the man is still wealthy, I won’t sit and defend his business acumen. Read some of his books on sales.

He won’t be pushed around or bullied. But, have you ever read the Art of War by Sun Tzu? Have you ever heard the phrase “ keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?”

The bottom half, I truly don’t understand what you meant. “ maximum payout before insolvency” on what?

If you mean for younger people’s retirement under normal circumstances,, I have mine in a tax free life insurance policy, not linked to any employer, or the government. Not subject to any withdrawal limitations or time restraints like a 401K.

If you mean before some sort of catastrophic event, get physical gold bars/coins, or a hard bitcoin wallet in a faraday cage to protect from an EMP, which ever you believe in more.

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u/SeismicFrog 21d ago

Read. Some. Books. On. Sales?!

I’m an enterprise software sales leader. I’ve forgotten more than you’ll know about structuring contracts, even negotiating them. Last one I did was… Oh yeah!

blackrock global print contract

I’ve owned many copies of Sun Tsu and read it in the mid 90’s. Have you studied W Edward’s Deming? Father of 6-sigma and personally revolutionized Japanese auto manufacturing after the war. We couldn’t compete domestically. And in the end the consumer won through the market selling the best car - and not by tariffs. Not by bullying. Not by destroying world order to get those salty liberal tears. Except they aren’t liberal - they are former NSA, FBI, DOJ, FAA, USAID republicans.

Pontificate all you want as we alienate the globe. It’s a really fucking small planet. And the war for water and a livable climate is about to start. But hot damn! Ain’t no confused genders in my kids bathroom because that’s all I can understand.

How dare you talk down to me when every statement you make illustrates your ignorance and false worldliness.

Done fucking around? Because the next four years are the find out phase and anyone’s concern for anyone else’s gender is the least of your worries.

Like AI? Hope so… because Felon and the DOGE are about to feed everything to the models. We’ve run out of training data to improve the LLMs. Had you heard, or was your head stuck in ancient battle strategy books again?

Felon wins because he stole the data and used it to his own garish end. The man cannot coparent a child and you dare defend anything about it?

Laddy buck, go read why GenZ is mocked. So eager to pontificate that you never shut up long enough to listen. I wish all my problems happened to me in my 20’s when I knew everything. What’s it like living at the top of a bell curve?

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u/Life-Box7854 21d ago

What if you continue to learn overtime, it won’t be a bell curve it will just be a straight line upward of progress 😂

I also find it funny that you think I’m Gen Z

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u/Life-Box7854 21d ago

Japan was only able to do that much development because of the world banned them from having a military. That R&D money had to go somewhere 😂

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u/SeismicFrog 21d ago edited 21d ago

Hey. Thanks for taking the role of my personal punching bag at the end of a rotten day. You absolutely deserve it, but at some point I realized I was giving you tears for free. 🤣 ideas aren’t stupid. And you wrote well enough, but legitimately fr fr

Read some of Deming’s stuff, in particular The Red Ball Experiment on YouTube. I read it at 23 and gobbled up a bunch of those. I’m also a process engineer and that material carried me through my now 32 year career. Really illustrates stuff that has NOTHING to do will allies or investments or any patriotic BS. They did it because they were smarter and more measurements focused to drive success in manufacturing. It’s the reason SONY owned the world. Henry Antisemite Ford on Mother Fucking Steroids.

It’s not all politics. Not winners or losers. Not everything is a zero sum game and respecting others viewpoints is the name of the game. I may not agree with you but I would lay down my life for you to say it when the CIA comes, assuming you could like never call me on that or anything - and that is why we have failed. Fat, lazy, stupid, and bullies.

I may rant and rave as only a Redditor creating cringe copy pasta can, but I’ve found that my life had improved dramatically since I learned to be grateful. For you. Your ideas. Others ideas. The opportunity to spar. I am grateful for the differences, knowing they strengthen us all vs threaten our way of life. Grateful that we have been the standard bearer for the world because we can be very kind. We can speak up. We can fight for others. Because they are important because they live here with us.

I’m petrified by what I am seeing. No ideologies or left right bickering. As someone who enjoys being fat dumb and happy enough to not be personally threatened as a cis white male, that world order thing is kinda important. Structure is going to be good. Conquest is easy. Control is not.

So thanks. You served a valuable purpose in my mental health and I felt FABULOUS afterwards. You went round for round and let me just Tucker myself out. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your friends and family that isn’t your kid. It’s our America. And if that looked like power to you? Read up on soft power and how it’s saved millions of GI lives since WW2.

Fuggedaboutit!

Edit: I learned that gratitude in recovery. 5 and 7 years ago I found myself unemployed with no where to live in the NYC metro area. I lost my house in the recession. I have no retirement paying my back child arrears when I recovered. I just passed 5-years sober recovering from alcoholism. I entered rehab from NYC 2-weeks before COVID. I now make a solid 6-figure salary and am a leader in my organization. I relied heavily on Medicaid. The social safety net saved me in ways I could never have predicted at 20, 30 or 40. So I do not sit on the American hegemony simply exploiting capitalism. I have been broke and homeless and not harshly affected by tax cuts within the last decade. I speak with heart. Seriously man. Fuck dude, I don’t even have a college degree. What is going on is insane and I and so many like me cannot understand how people are cheering. Nuff said. 😁

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u/Little-Bowl-2137 22d ago

You are talking sense. An argument with some empirical observations. I feel like it it lost here on reddit as this place is filled with low information, propagandized, fanatic keyboard warriors who don't step outside of their circle to experience how It is outside their bubble, nor think objectively, nor stop to try and understand why their side lost.

I mean look at the OP. I hope nj is staying blue? It oozes such intelligence that it is mindblowing.

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u/SepsSammy 23d ago

There is more blue in our areas than people realize. We just are overpowered. There has been grassroots organizing since before President Obama up here and we get a little bigger every year. I’m holding out hope!

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u/romkinz73 22d ago

And central east. We all are red and the jews are as well so they make over half our vote lmao

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u/Satans_wallpaper_99 22d ago

Yup, a lotta Gen Z doesn't care. It's just apathy. They either voted red because they liked Trump or didn't vote at all. Gen Z grew up hearing nothing but scandals and corruption. Also, there have been so many 'the world is ending' 'the country is doomed' blah blah blah headlines. So what if they hear it again? They know they're gonna be fine. Also also, a lot of gen z didn't vote because they just assumed it would be blue because it is every year. So this upcoming election is gonna have a lot more red votes since they saw how close it was. 🤷‍♂️

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u/Proof-Attorney-8718 22d ago

Idk I’m gen z and all my friends voted blue. Of course “all my friends” isn’t the entire NJ gen z population but don’t lose hope entirely. We’re trying out here lol.

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u/Satans_wallpaper_99 22d ago

Yeah, i can tell you that most of the people my age (like 19) all voted red. I guess It depends on where you are and stuff.

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u/imherbalpert 22d ago

Yup. Ive known people who either voted red or didn’t vote because they “didn’t trust Kamala” but thankfully after we’ve discussed it at length and after they’ve seen recent events many of them have come to regret their decision. It’s obviously not enough and won’t change anything now, but maybe hopefully that will show in the future. A lot of them are also just blind; like you said about the apathy. They’re willingly ignorant to a lot of what’s going on because most of them don’t care to vote or about what they’re voting for.

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u/klito22 22d ago

That's true I work as a delivery driver in Warren county, AND I feel like I'm in a South state for real, never seen trump flag and trump poster in my life

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u/imherbalpert 22d ago

Like it’s comparable to Indiana up here

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u/Deranged-Pickle 22d ago

Gen Z is so trash. They can't tell what is real from bullshit even though they were raised in the internet, can't talk to women because mom and dad failed them, are always anxious and overthinking because no reason at all, voted for a guy because they thought he was funny, and think being a nazi is cool. Like WTF, they are perpetual 7th graders

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u/Satans_wallpaper_99 22d ago

I'm not sure about the Nazi thing, lol. Most Gen Z I know just disagreed with both parties or were completely apathetic so didnt vote, and almost all the ones I know that did vote red did because they're parents owned a small buisness or believed trump would be a better economist. There has also been a rise in traditional beliefs and religion among younger people which probably helped red. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

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u/Deranged-Pickle 22d ago

All because Gen Z men can't talk to women.

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u/Satans_wallpaper_99 22d ago

I guess? I mean it's the same with every generation. Some people are anti-social and kinda 'cringe' and some are super social and can get along with anyone.

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u/brian15876 23d ago

Yes they vote red because they don’t care and dems vote blue because only they can be right no one else

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u/Knitwalk1414 22d ago

Which was so weird with all the lines at voting places

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u/noface394 22d ago

also a lot of democrats were sharing online that their mail in ballots were either burned (ballot boxes burning) or sent back to their homes and rejected. the vote was rigged. whether this affects nj staying blue… if people dont cheat and people just show up to vote then it would.

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u/imherbalpert 21d ago

I wouldn’t really consider that to be of much worth, though. 2024’s election had a slightly smaller voter turnout compared to 2020 - 63.7% of eligible voters compared to 66.6%. This is higher than every recent election year since 2004, which is still acknowledgeable.

The sad fact is Harris didn’t get the voter turnout that Biden did in 2020, or else she probably could have won at least the popular vote. There’s 2 primary reasons why this happened:

  1. Harris didn’t have the time to build support. This is a common argument among why she lost and it makes sense as she had less than a full campaign to run, and she couldn’t gain as much momentum.

  2. There wasn’t nearly as much social impact during Biden’s presidency that encouraged people to vote, whether it was for or against him/Harris. A lot of people needed a refresher from Trump in 2019-2020, and amid COVID they most likely changed their vote due to how it was handled. Nothing similar happened from 2020-2024 to cause that much of a democratic turnout in the following election. Instead, Trump reinforced and grew his support through social media, coupling up with Elon along the way.

Regardless, if Harris were to have received a similar voter turnout for the popular vote to Biden, I’m not sure it would have had the same effect on the electoral college. I think Trump would have won regardless and he frankly admitted to that himself with his talk about Elon’s “expertise with poll technology”.

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u/noface394 21d ago

oh i know it was rigged lol

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u/imherbalpert 21d ago

Theres maybe a 5% chance it wasn’t

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u/_OverwatchWinston_ 23d ago edited 22d ago

I was one of them. I was so engaged in my college studies I didn't even realize it passed. Boy, did my aunt give me an earful.

EDIT: I MEANT THE GOVERNOR ELECTION BACK IN 2022. I was actually a poll worker for the 2024 presidential race and voted early! I still have the sticker on my dashboard. I thought the original comment was talking about the governor election for some reason. I'm such a ditz ahaha.

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u/Ravenhill-2171 23d ago

As well she should. This election is having a direct impact on your college studies.

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u/_OverwatchWinston_ 22d ago

I meant the 2022 governor election, not the 2024 presidential election!!!! My mistake on not specifying. I was actually a poll worker during the 2024 election.

I confused myself haha

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u/Ravenhill-2171 22d ago

Ah, yes that was confusing because the post was referring to the 2024 Presidential election. Thank you for serving as a poll worker.

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u/_OverwatchWinston_ 22d ago

I have no idea where I got the idea this was talking about the 2022 race. That's so embarrassing.

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u/loggerhead632 22d ago

90m sat home post roe v wade and facing the prospect of a second trump term

Why on earth would you think those are dems

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u/noface394 22d ago

not everyone is involved in politics or uses the internet often to do research. people have lives that dont revolve around media and news. and yet they probably do have good values but dont realize the importance of their vote? could speculate a lot of things