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Suburban Studies Expert: Suburban Voters Want Incremental Change

house home housing
Image by Public Co from Pixabay

Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic President-elect Joe Biden both fought for support from the suburbs. Suburban voters on Long Island seem open to change, but in small doses.

Larry Levy heads up the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. He said President Trump won U.S. suburbs by four points in 2016, but this year Trump’s moved more to the right.

“Once again, as we've seen for more than a generation, it's the moderate suburban swing voters who decide who gets the keys to the White House. And who controls Congress,” Levy said.

Levy said the blue wave that many predicted would sweep the 2020 election has turned into a red mirage. He thinks the state house in Albany and New York’s U.S. Congressional delegation won’t change much after all the votes are counted.

“I think what the suburbs said is, ‘Yeah, we're okay with change. But we're more comfortable with it evolutionary than revolutionary,’” Levy said.

Levy said Democrats in Albany might have lost points with suburban voters when they passed police accountability laws and eliminated cash bail this year.

Desiree reports on the lives of military service members, veterans, and their families for WSHU as part of the American Homefront project. Born and raised in Connecticut, she now calls Long Island home.