President Barack Obama’s support among Jews has dropped, new data shows.
Four out of 10 Jewish Americans currently disapprove of Obama, according to polling data provided to POLITICO by Gallup, which has yet to post the numbers on its website.
This 40 percent disapproval rating is 8 percent higher than the 32 percent disapproval rating among Jewish Americans that was last reported by Gallup in June.
While Obama still remains popular with Jews, the data, from a poll conducted Aug. 1-Sept.14, is the latest concrete indication that the president is facing worsening problems among a key group.
Obama’s approval rating among Jewish Americans is also down to 55 percent – a five point drop from his approval rating in June, which stood at 60 percent.
Together, the rise in disapproval and dip in approval ratings are a net negative 11 point downturn for Obama among Jews.
The latest Gallup numbers on Thursday come on the heels of Democrats’ loss of former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat in a heavily Jewish district to Republican Bob Turner. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, among others, had urged Jews to back Turner to send a message to Obama that they are unhappy with his policies toward Israel.
Elected officials from the president’s own party have recently expressed concerns that Obama was losing the Jewish vote.
“For a while now, I’ve been hearing from my constituents a lot of dissatisfaction with the statements on Israel that have been coming from the president and the administration,” Rep. Eliot Engel, (D-N.Y.) told the New York Times this week. “He’ll still get a majority of Jewish votes, but I would not be surprised to see that drop 10 to 20 points.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied Thursday that Obama had a problem with Jewish voters, telling reporters at his daily briefing that he would “disagree” with Engel’s suggestion.
“I think as recently as last week or the week before, the Prime Minister of Israel made an incredibly strong statement about the remarkable commitment, unshakeable commitment, that this president has to Israel’s security, and the unprecedented assistance that this President has provided Israel,” Carney said, speaking before the latest Gallup numbers came out.
“This president’s absolute commitment to Israel’s security is, I think, demonstrated and unshakeable,” he added.
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5 Responses
But to understand the poll, one needs to distnguish Orthodox from non-Orthodox, and whether someone lives in a Jewish neighborhood. What is most significant are the districts with large populations of Orthodox Jews. The poll’s main assumption was that there is “one” Jewish community, whereas there are now clearly “two” distinct ones, with little connecting them except maybe the grandfathers are the secular community are the same people who are the great-grandfathers of the religious community, but by know we are distant cousins with little in common.
V’avdil eschem m’kol ha’amim. When the nations of the world – many of whom were our long time allies – begin pointing fingers, we will all have a lot in common.
Shame on you !! You are totally wrong and missing the essence of what the name Yisrael connotes. Just as the moon comes back to full so the Jewish people retain the potential to return to the way of Torah fully. The historical reasons and struggles and difficulties that separate us are able to be overcome.
The reality is that most American Jews like Obama, think it is good he keeps the nutty Israelis in line, and are very pleased that Obama’s party is the strong advocate for gay marriage and making sure the abortion will be available and affordable for any woman who has the misfortune of being pregnant (which isn’t all that common for the typical American Jews, the the typical American Jews is well past child bearing age).
The reality is that we are two communities (even ignoring the fact the a high percentage of the younger non-Orthodox “Jews” – defined by temple membership and self-identification, are goyim with Jewish ancestors on their father’s side). Mr. Weprin doesn’t get to move to Washington because he didn’t realize that, and he campaigned for the typical American vote (and would have won had the election been held in an area where very few frum Jews lived).
Polling two distinct communities under the assumption they are a single group results in meaningless data.
The gentleman from Bronx, Westchester and Rockland Counties is also part of the problem.