Opinion : 'New York Values:' An Iowan's view of Big Apple demographics

Imagine how crazy and crowded Benton County would be if every person in Iowa moved here.

Now add every person in Nebraska. And North Dakota. And South Dakota. And most of Alaska.

Pretty scary, right?

Now, imagine that Benton County were actually made up of two islands, a peninsula and the tiny corner of an island, and that all of that land is actually less than half the size of our present county map.

What a crowded, crazy place that would be, right?

Welcome to New York City.

Every election year, the major media outlets send reporters to Iowa to investigate our unusually rural state to figure out what life is like, and how our daily routine affects our view of politics and presidential candidates.

With the voting in New York set for Tuesday, I thought it would be a good time to turn the table and talk about “New York Values” and the way New York life affects New York voting.

But no, by “New York values,” today I don’t mean “the philosophies, priorities, attitudes or one's judgment of what is important in life” – the definition that Ted Cruz apparently had in mind when he uttered that not-so-smart phrase.

For this column, value means “a numerical amount; a magnitude quantity, or number.”

And when it comes to NYC, the quantity and magnitude of the numbers is shocking for someone who lives in Iowa to comprehend.

I will share just a few of those numbers with you to give you an idea of what life must be like in the city that has so much that so many Americans love – even those of us (like me) who have never been there.

Population vs. Living Room

303/8,500,000: The number of square miles and total estimated population of the five boroughs of NYC: Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn.

718/26,000: The same numbers, as applied to Benton County.

900: The average size in square of a middle-class NYC resident’s apartment.

1,350: How many dollars that apartment costs to rent each month – at the lowest end of the price scale (many cost $2,000 or more).

60: How many feet high the floor of that apartment is above street level.

71,000: The average number of people who live in one square mile of Manhattan.

1776: The height in feet of the tallest NYC building (One World Trade Center).

1650: The height in feet of the highest elevation in Iowa (Hawkeye Point).

In fact there are 25 or so buildings in NYC that are higher than the elevation of Benton County, including Trump World Tower, the site of those “You’re fired” board room meetings on “The Apprentice.”

And of course, with that many people living, working, commuting and shopping in that small of a space, life in NYC is considerably different than anyone who has lived all of his or her life in a rural setting can imagine.

Logistics

Here are a few more values representing that cramped, over-crowded lifestyle:

45: The approximate percentage of NYC residents who own their own car. (Yeah, more than half of New Yorkers have to figure out how to haul home their groceries -- which cost noticeably more than they do here in Iowa – or get their kids to practice without their own vehicle).

20,000: The cheapest cost, in dollars, of renting one parking spot for one year.

1,000,000: The highest (so far) cost, in dollars, or buying one parking spot in the most expensive neighborhoods of NYC.

And if you think living, working and commuting in NYC is ghastly expensive, wait until it’s time to think about dying there.

More numbers:

$350,000: The selling price, in dollars, of each of the two very last burial vaults in Manhattan’s New York Marble Cemetery.

60,000: Approximate number of NYC residents who die each year.

474,000: The number of people who live in NYC’s least crowded area, Staten Island.

58: The size, in square miles, of Staten Island

4: The number of bridges that connect Staten Island to the rest of the world. (Imagine sharing the Cedar River bridge with 125,000 people every day).

Demographics

I could go on indefinitely, but I think you are beginning to get the picture.

NYC is a crazy crowded place.

It’s also a very diverse place:

36: The percentage of students who were absent from Brooklyn public schools during the last observation of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday – which is now a day in which NYC public schools are closed.

2,000,000: The approximate number of Jews in New York City.

45: Percentage of NYC residents who describe themselves as white.

27.5: Percentage identified as Latino or Hispanic.

25: Percent identified as black or African American.

A Democratic Party stronghold

And because of its “yuge” population, NYC is a very powerful political center. And historically, NYC is among the most Democratic cities in the U.S.

What do Abe Lincoln, Ike Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan have in common? All three, while winning big Electoral College victories for their second term, lost in New York City.

Only one Republican, Warren Harding in 1920, has won in all five boroughs of NYC. The last time a majority of Big Applers voted for a Republican for president was 1924 (Coolidge). The only other Republican to win among NYC voters was William McKinley.

The next time you visit the city and see all those places named “Lincoln,” remember that in 1864, two-thirds of NYC voters cast ballots against him.

And even Teddy Roosevelt, a New York City native and popular Mount Rushmore honoree, lost in NYC, getting fewer votes than his opponent in four of the five boroughs – even though he had served as that city’s police commissioner.

Contrast NYC demographics and party affiliation with rural Vinton residents, among whom I live; in our last election among those of us who live in the country in Eden, Taylor or Harrison Township, our demographics were: Virtually 100 percent white. The vote was nearly 70 percent Republican.

So, today, our fellow Americans in this crazy, crowded place will vote for President. Among the candidates are a Brooklyn-born Senator, a lifelong Manhattan businessman and a former Senator and Secretary of State who has had offices in Manhattan and/or Brooklyn since 2000.

While nobody expects a big surprise in today’s voting, there is one historical fact I think is worth noting.

The Year in Which Iowa and NYC joined forces to elect a President

In one election cycle, two places – Iowa and NYC – made all of the difference.

1976. A former Georgia Governor, a peanut farmer from a city with less than .1 percent of the population of NYC, became President.

Jimmy Carter’s victory could not have happened without Iowa, where his victory in our first-in-the-nation caucus turned him from an unknown to a viable candidate. Also, Carter needed NYC. Gerald Ford won most of New York, but Carter’s NYC vote difference was big enough to allow him to carry New York and its Electoral College votes. The 1976 election was so close that whoever won New York would become President.

So tonight, as you get online to see who won, maybe you will have a slightly better understanding of this unique, distant place, and why it has so much political power.