Changing New York City Politics

The glamour of New York City politics competes in the American consciousness with the scourges of crime, crack and homelessness. The political structure of the city is undoubtedly very complicated, with an extremely diverse mix of ethnic and racial groups and correspondingly complex electoral alignments. This book looks at the motivation behind the election by the voters of NYC of their first African-American mayor, David Dinkins. While race may seem the obvious explanation, the authors show that it is far from the whole story. Dinkins' election was dependent on vast numbers of defections from traditional Democratic voting groups. While New York's blacks did vote overwhelmingly for Dinkins, he could not have won without support from white liberal, Latino and Jewish voters and even a significant fraction of white ethnic Catholics. "Changing New York City Politics" addresses issues central to the political agenda of the United States and of any country with a population of very mixed ethnic origin. This book should be of interest to postgraduates and researchers in American studies, voting behaviour and racial studies.