On election day, Reynolds won, 56 percent to 44 percent; in contrast, he won the 2002 election 75 percent to 25 percent against the Democratic challenger. Many cite the amount spent by Davis as compared to Reynolds' prior challenger as the primary factor for the change. Some observers attributed the narrowed margin of victory to an undercurrent of resentment in the working-class areas of the 26th district over economic decline and a lack of manufacturing sector jobs. Others attributed the margin to the politics of the specific candidates; Reynolds' politics more closely resembling big-government neo-conservatism while Davis' more closely resembles the limited-government libertarian conservatism of Goldwater, the type of conservative thought more widely adhered to in Upstate New York.