Oakland County was historically a classic bastion of suburban conservatism, and was hence a longstanding stronghold of the Republican Party. However, since the 1990s it has become more competitive and has voted for the Democratic candidate for President in the last six elections. Republican strength is concentrated in the many exurban townships of the county, while Democratic strength is concentrated in suburbs such as Royal Oak, Birmingham, West Bloomfield, and Southfield. Other suburbs such as Novi and Troy once leaned more Republican, but are now relatively split between the two parties, with younger adults tending to support Democrats and elderly residents tending to support Republicans.