Obama-McCain (left) and Christie-Corzine (right)
In the presidential election, New Jersey turned out 3,828,000 votes which broke 57-42% for Obama. On Tuesday, about 2,300,000 votes were cast–about two thirds of last year’s turnout, an expectable drop. Check here for the 2008 election interactive map, and here for the 2009 election interactive map.
Let’s take a look at the turnouts of Morris and Essex Counties in these two races, which I feel illustrates the difference between these two elections.
Morris is the biggest voting base of Republicans in the state, and Essex (where Seton Hall and Newark are located) is a typical urban, Democrat stronghold.
In the 2008 presidential election, Obama carried Essex handily with 240,000 votes (76% of the county). Meanwhile, McCain had a rather poor cut of the Morris County vote with 132,000 (54% of the county).