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Originally Posted by eschaton
Are the Italian-American neighborhoods really that recent at this point? IIRC the last big wave ended in the early 1960s, which would mean basically everyone not a senior citizen is a second/third generation Italian-American.
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The last Italian wave to NYC ended in the late 1970's. NY still received heavy Italian migration well into the 70's. In fact Bensonhurst was a Jewish community in the 1950's and 60's, and the present South Brooklyn Italian identity wasn't formed until the 1970's.
They're distinct from Italian-American assimilated identity in the rest of the country, in that grandma is from Italy, Italian is still spoken in the house, and the community is still an identifiable enclave. The earlier, larger waves have long since assimilated and moved to the suburbs (or NC, FL, etc.).
But obviously this identity is losing relevance over time, as the communities shrink. The real driver of Outer Borough Trump support is the religious Jewish community, mostly Orthodox, but also former Soviet.
And, unlike the Soviet and Italian communities, the Orthodox Jewish communities are ascendant. It's a young community with extremely high birthrates.