American Jews have long proved a solid voting bloc for the Democratic Party, with about four out of five voting for President Obama in 2008, according to exit polls. Jewish voters are driven by a broad range of concerns, but for some the security of Israel is dominant. Now, with the peace process in the Middle East at a stalemate and Palestinians taking their case for statehood directly to the United Nations, Republicans are stepping up their efforts to peel off Jewish voters.
While this constituency is clearly in play, a new Gallup poll shows that Jews are no more disillusioned than other Americans are with Mr. Obama. According to the poll, his Jewish support has declined since the election in 2008 — but at a rate no different from that of Americans as a whole. Even with that drop-off, 54 percent of Jewish voters told Gallup in August and September that they approved of the job the president was doing (compared with 41 percent of American voters over all). In fact, Jews continue to be far more enthusiastic about Mr. Obama than other Americans — a 13-point difference that has remained sizable throughout the president’s term.
The fresh focus on Jewish voters was prompted in part by the victory of a Republican, Bob Turner, in a special election last week in New York’s Ninth Congressional District. With a heavy concentration of Orthodox Jews, the district is not representative of Jewish voters nationwide; the Orthodox lean far more Republican than the vast majority of American Jewry.
Nevertheless, the election generated excitement among Republicans that the Jewish vote could be up for grabs. Reporters visited three communities with heavy concentrations of Jewish voters for impressions of any shift in their allegiances.
(Source: NY Times)
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3 Responses
Well, as an American Jewish voter, I can say that I don’t feel any less inclined to vote for Obama in ’12 than I did in ’08.
I don’t believe a word of it. This Jewish American voter didn’t vote for him first time and will not vote for him in 2012.
1. The loss of Orthodox Jewish support will only grow since we don’t like his social policies, and have mixed feelings about his economic policies (much of his “stimulus” is really patronage to friends that don’t benefit us, and we are probably more concerned about inflation due a higher awareness of Israel in the 1980s and Germany in the 1920s). Our numbers are growing due to high birth rate and since there are more BTs than “off the derekh” types.
2. Frei Jews love his economic and social policies, but if even they are losing interest in Obama, he’s in big trouble. Since most frei Jews are quite advanced in age, they are most interested in government subsidies to social security, and of course, “gay rights” does appeal to a large number of the younger frei Jews. Frei Jews fondly remember FDR, which is good for Obama, but bad in the long run (since if you or your parents remember the 1930s and 1940s, you aren’t long for this world – and with voter IDs law, dead people can’t vote anymore).