George W. Bush Republican George W. Bush Republican Pre-consolidation: Post-consolidation: Pre-consolidation: Post-consolidation: The 2004 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election.

After 2004, no Republican presidential candidate would receive over 40% of the state's vote until 2024, when Donald Trump won 42.7%.

[5][6] The voters of the five boroughs of New York City were the main force responsible for Kerry's decisive victory in the state.

Kerry won New York City by an overwhelming margin, taking 1,828,015 votes to Bush's 587,534, a 74.99%-to-24.10% victory.

Traditionally Republican, this area went clearly Democratic through the past few decades, with the arrival of people from New York City.

This can be mainly explained by the concerns of suburban moderate voters about terrorism, an issue about which they trusted Bush more than Kerry.

Exit polls showed 49% of voters in New York trusted Bush to handle terrorism, as opposed to 42% for Kerry.

Its politics are very similar to those of Ohio or Pennsylvania, both key swing states and sharing conservative rural areas.

Bush expanded his margin in New York City's northern exurban counties Dutchess, Orange and Putnam from 2000.

Despite this, Senator Kerry still managed a slim victory in Upstate New York, with 1,553,246 votes to 1,551,971 for Bush.

This was largely due to a Democratic tidal wave in the region's four largest cities--Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.