Nearly 200 boats took to the choppy waters of western New York’s Lake Chautauqua on Sunday in in a show of support for President Donald Trump. Although Ronald Reagan won the state in 1984, it is highly unlikely that Trump will repeat that performance. He has, however, taken over Chautauqua County and virtually all of the state’s counties beyond metropolitan New York.
In 2008, Barack Obama won the majority of Chautauqua County’s votes. In 2016, Trump won the county by a 20 point margin, a margin he may expand in 2020. The energy level on Sunday was reminiscent of the energy Obama engendered in 2008.