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Tim the Political Demographic Sleuth

August 5, 2011 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 85 Sunny

Comments:
Lennox down North Park to top of hill, back up North Park to Shelburne to Warrensville Center to Grosvenor to Revere to Blanche to Staunton to Bainbridge to Andrews to Severn to South Taylor to Euclid Heights back to Lennox (alone)-

I wanted to do something interesting for this run so I decided to try and solve a question I've been wondering for a while:

Cleveland Heights is a very liberal place, most of it is covered by 80%+ Obama precincts. But there are three precincts just south of Severence where Obama is only in the 50-60% range. My question is why are those three precincts so conservative compared to everywhere else? Here are my guesses:
1. Race-are they whiter? The answer here is no; all are 30-40% black. I already had this information before running. But, even if they were whiter, most whites in Cleveland Heights are liberals anyway, so there's something else. Whatever group living there with the 30-40% blacks must be VERY conservative.
2. Italians: They tend to be Catholic and live on the East side. Maybe not Republican enough but I've lived near Little Italy long enough to know it's a definite possibility.
3. Rich people: This area is tucked away in the back of a neighboorhood behind a golf course. The Obama % sounds about right for rich people on this side of the Cuyahoga.
4. Orthodox Jews: There are a few temples on South Taylor and Orthodox Jews are sometimes Republicans even though most Jews are very liberal.

So I ran there and the correct answer presented itself: definitely Orthodox Jews. I saw a lot of people walking around with beards and black hats and stuff on. Whew... I solved a demographic mystery on my run today!!!