[By Tevi Troy]
Secure America Now has just released a new poll showing that only 43 percent of Jews plan to vote to reelect Obama in 2012. If this holds, it would be a considerable drop from the 78 percent of the Jewish vote Obama received in 2008, and from the standard 75–80 percent of the Jewish vote that Democratic political strategists have come to expect and rely upon.
The bipartisan poll, done by John McLaughlin and Pat Caddell, also found that Obama is likely to have particular trouble with Jews in the all-important state of Florida, as only 34 percent of Florida’s Jews would vote to reelect him. Unsurprisingly, Obama does better among Jews in blue states like California, Illinois, and Maryland, but Republican strategists are unlikely to contest those states heavily, whereas the Florida vote really matters.
In addition, in a positive sign for the future, Obama’s worst showing in the poll was among Jews under 40. Sixty-one percent of these younger Jews reported that they planned to vote for someone other than Obama for president in 2012. This could indicate that the strange and continuing hold that the Democratic party has had over American Jews could finally be loosening. This latest poll is bad news for Obama in the short term, and problematic for the Democrats in the long term as well.
Tevi Troy is a visiting senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. A former senior White House aide and deputy secretary of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration, he also served as the White House Jewish Liaison.
The above Op-Ed was originally published in NationalReview, and submitted to YWN by the author.
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7 Responses
The poll indicated that 65% of the respondents voted for Obama in 2008, which is about 14% lower than every other poll shows. This may reflect a skewed sample. But even in this possibly skewed sample, Obama had 63% approval. More importantly, the poll did not compare Obama to actual Republican candidates. In other polls, Obama polls poorly against “generic Republican” (only up by 1.5% in the RealClearPolitics average) but defeats every real Republican possibility (by margins ranging from 4.6% against Romney to 19.6% against Palin — in fact only Romney is within single digits).
There 43% who are totally blind.
Why would any Jew vote for a man who associates with the likes of JEREMIAH WRIGHT, RASHID KHALADI, etc?
This article is mostly wishful thinking by a former Bush administration official. We have seen this before, and we will see it again, until the time when the real election is held, and the poll that counts is counted.
43%, THAT MANY????!!!!!!
Wishful thinking. I bet Obama picks up 65% of the Jewish vote min.
Yes, It’s a travesty…..’Your enemies will be borne from within you midst’.
Thats 43% to much!