“Hareidim, in America, tend to be solid Democrats. Have you noticed which party people like Dov Hikind caucus with? While we are social conservatives, we tend to believe the government should help the poor, and not worry too much about balancing the budget.”
Haredim mostly vote overwhelmingly Republican in national elections; the margins in the haredi areas in Brooklyn resemble those in rural Texas! Assemblyman Hikind is nowhere near as conservative as most of this constituents, and he has the support of another frum Jew, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, to remain a Democrat; as a Republican in the overwhelmingly Democratic New York State Assembly he’d have no ability to help constituents. Perhaps haredim in Brooklyn believe in helping the poor but they vote for candidates who want to reduce such help. And they may be social conservatives but they turned out in overwhelming margins to elect Mike Bloomberg.