In last week’s election, GOP contender Mitt Romney may have come up short overall, but he received a much larger portion of the Jewish vote than John McCain did back in 2008.
While President Obama received 78% of the Jewish vote the first time around, that support diminished this year to 69%. That most Jews in the United States voted to re-elect the president comes as no surprise. The majority of American Jewry identifies as Reform or religiously unaffiliated, and with a liberal outlook on social issues, tends to vote Democrat. What may come as a surprise, however, is how one of New York’s Chareidi enclaves came to be a stronghold for President Obama, for precisely the reason that so many Jews voted against him this time around.
The village of Kiryas Joel in upstate New York is home to a large number of Satmar Chassidim, whose anti-Zionist views stem from the belief that the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel must be preceded by the coming of the Messiah.
While Romney’s perceived support of the Jewish State had garnered him a great deal of support among the more traditional segment of the Jewish community, in Kiryas Joel, it appears to have had the opposite effect. One KJ resident, speaking to the New York Post, said that they “were unofficially told to vote for Obama because Romney is pro-Israel.”
While the village has not yet released an official tally, preliminary results show that out of 5,286 votes cast, Obama received a solid 1,442 to Romney’s 1,904. While Romney still came out ahead overall, when we compare the results to 2008, the difference is striking. In that election, Republican presidential candidate John McCain took approximately 90% of the vote.
Satmar chassid Shimon Rolnitzky told the Post that “Some people voted for Obama to make a statement that they disagree with what they believe are unfair attacks against the president by Zionist interests.”
As the White House continues to snub the Israeli government in favor of a more conciliatory approach to the Arab world, and as Iran continues its nuclear weapons program largely unimpeded, we will see over the next four years whether those attacks were indeed “unfair.”
(Daniel Perez YWN)
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15 Responses
So misguided…they never get it.
JEWS=ISRAEL in the eyes of the world (zionism has nothing to do with this, this is survival of YIDDEN)
It would be better if they not vote at all.
Look at it this way: even Satmar is more supportive of Romney that non-Orthodox.
They voted for their own best interest. I’m sure they feel Obama will help their programs more and that’s it.
#1 your post is right on target. Thank you!
The press has it all wrong. The excuse they used is Israel, but what nobody wants to admit is that many of these people voted FOR the government programs they are receiving. They said as much – not only in KJ.
The majority of these families could not survive without the funding they get: food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, vouchers, Section 8, etc. Although I personally voted for Romney, there is no question that he ran on the platform of severely cutting entitlements, something that would seriously affect almost all of us (even those of us who believe we do not receive any of them – think Headstart, Pell grants, vouchers, lunch programs…..)
So, whoever wrote that the issue is Israel — I’ve got a bridge to sell them!
Yasher Koach #6 for courageously telling the facts the way they are. FACT – KJ is one of the highest recepient areas. I will not make a judgement…BUT…they voted with their pocketbooks…literally,
1. Given that the Democrats are increasingly radical on social issues, and that Jews are increasingly conservative (more BTs than “off the derech” combined with a high birth rate among frum Jews, and a high death rate among the increasingly geriatric secular Jews), a trend toward more Republican votes among Jews is to be expected.
2. Whether US support for Israel is good or not is questionable. It tends to promote the anti-religious establishment, and enables the Israelis to ignore their own problems.
3. Many Orthodox Jews are part of the 47% (receive benefits, don’t pay much or anything in income taxes), and very few Orthodox Jews are part of the 1% (i.e. don’t expect to find a beard and peyos working in “big law” or becoming a master of the universe on Wall Street). While Democratic social liberalism is amoral, it doesn’t affect us, whereas Democratic economic/welfare liberalism, benefits us.
Would these guys have gone to mishteh Achashverosh just to get the free food or would they have listened to Mordechai’s daas Torah and stayed home? My guess is they would have gone to the party because they don’t fully understand what Obama is capable of. As long as they have their programs, the rest is not their concern. Are they so out of touch that they don’t realize Obama will interpret their overwhelming support as a mandate for his policies including toeva marriage? Sad.
lol
None of the comments are torah thinking. THe Satmar Rebbe Z”L who was a Gadol Be’Yisrael, besides of his anti-zionist views, believed that if we’ll support condidates cause Israel local Goyim will get angry and say that we are not concerned about the wellfare of the country.
Thi accusation was put on us throughout the ages that Jews don’t support their contry so he believed we should provoke this. And by the way it was voiced by goyim already even here in US.
You don’t have to accept it but to wave it out of hand is not Torah’dig and certainly not smart.
It’s the reverse. if Romney wins it guaranteed that they will have a State of Israel to protest against!
As I wrote earlier, I voted for Romney.
But….. some of the comments made by two Republican candidates banning abortion even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, are far, far more radical than the views held even by the most stringent of us Chareidim.
If the Republican party does not moderate its views regarding some social issues (e.g. immigration, the Hispanic vote…) they have no chance of re-election whatsoever.
We are living in a totally different era, and extremism is rapidly losing its base. To top it all off, most unfortunately, the media and the colleges are totally biased to the left.
My greatest fear with Obama is that he is relentlessly marching us towards the fate of Greece or Spain — Hashem Yeracheim!!
So its better to support a candidate who says YES to everything the Torah in Parshas Achray Mos & K’doshim say NO to??
The dems have no problem with all immorality out in public.
Mark, you are absolutely right. We are between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
But how do we stop a runaway train? Either the Republicans move to the center from the extreme right, and still salvage morality and some sanity, or we are lost and will be ruled by the party of the irreligious and the immoral.
But those who voted for Obama this election did not do it for the party dogma, but for the factors mentioned before.