A sad, but still relevant commentary on this societal phenomenon:
Posted on 07/06/2011 3:41:04 PM PDT by Hojczyk
If the election were held today, President Obama would get only 56 percent of the Jewish vote against a generic Republican candidate, down from the 78 percent he won in 2008 and less than the 74 percent John Kerry received in 2004.
This is the key finding of a survey of 1,000 Jewish voters I conducted from June 20-27 using telephone and Internet interviews. After asking basic questions of the entire sample, I proceeded to drill down with more detailed questions for the Jews in the sample who identified themselves as Democrats. The overall survey has a 95 percent confidence of a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Triggering the increasing Jewish disaffection with Obama is opposition to his proposal that an Israeli return to ’67 borders be the starting point of peace negotiations. By 10-83, Jewish voters opposed the plan. Jewish Democrats opposed it by 10-67. Asked if President Obama is “too biased against Israel,” Jewish voters as a whole agreed with the charge by 39-30, while 32 percent of Jewish Democrats also agreed (and 40 percent of Jewish Democrats disagreed).
Jews who identified themselves as Democrats also said:
• By 37-47, they do not think Obama is “doing a good job of promoting peace in the Middle East.”
• By 43-42, they break evenly on whether Obama “is being too tough on Israel.”
• By 61-30, Jewish Democrats think the president “is naïve in thinking that he can make peace with the Arabs.”
The survey probed the issue of 1967 borders in greater depth, reading Jewish Democrats a statement giving both sides of the issue:
RELATED ARTICLES Gallup poll: No erosion in support among Jewish voters President Obama says that Israel should give up the land it occupied after the 1967 war except for some adjustments. He says that these borders would give the Palestinians a viable nation of their own and would lead to a settlement of their conflict with Israel. Others disagree, saying that these borders are too small, exposing Israel to shelling from the Golan Heights in the north and giving the nation a middle only nine miles wide. They say that returning to the pre-’67 borders would not stop the Arabs from wanting to destroy Israel but would make it easier to do so. Which view comes closest to your own?
In response, Jewish Democrats opposed returning to the ’67 borders by 82-8.
Israel is very important to Jewish Democrats.
• By 86-4, Jewish Democrats agree that “it is very important that Jews have a country of their own, considering their history of persecution.”
• They disagree, by 9-75, with the idea that “Israel has become a bully, pushing its Arab neighbors around.”
• Jewish Democrats agree, by a margin of 85-4, that “Israel is a small country surrounded by countries and peoples that want to destroy it.”
• By an overwhelming 12-71, they reject the idea that “Israel is intolerant of its neighbors and does not do enough to get along with them in peace”.
• By 79-4, Jewish Democrats agree that “Israel wants to live in peace with its neighbors but the Arabs won’t let it” and reject, by 11-73, the statement that “Israel is always trying to grab more land and throw out the Palestinians who live there.”
• Finally, Jewish Democrats agree, 67-13, with the overview that “if the Arabs lay down their weapons, there would be no more war. It is just their desire to destroy Israel that creates the conflict.”
Given the importance of Israel to the Jewish Democratic voters of the United States, it is clear that Obama is playing with fire as he toughens the American foreign policy toward Israel and banks his credibility on the idea that peace is possible simply through Israeli territorial concessions. American Jews — Democrats included — reject the very foundation of Obama’s efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East as “naïve.”
Obama is in the process of breaking the close relationship between his party and the Jewish community, a liaison first formed by Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. In increasing numbers, American Jews and Jewish Democrats are leaving the president’s side.
One word:
Bullfeathers. Frankly stop even worrying about the subject.
The same 79% marxist wannabe hard-core are going to vote for, and spend their money supporting dems by the same overwhelming 79% margin every single time. No. Matter. What. No matter how anti-Israel Omama it, because they’re for the most part committed SOCIALISTS. Simple as that.
Frankly. They want to be mindless zombie supporters, let them.
Ignore them. Tantrums, plays for attention (which this story seems to be) whatever. Don’t even try. They made their bed, leave ‘em there. Lots of more productive things to do.
Waste of everyone’s time to do otherwise. IMO.
Today: Adolf Hitler shows up and announces his candidacy for President. Republican Jews (and also Christians) protest Hitler’s candidacy. Even ADL’s Abraham Foxman exhibits some concerns about this.
Tomorrow: Hitler changes his party registration from National Socialist German Worker’s Party to Democrat.
Day after tomorrow: National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) instantly makes a blog entry, “Stop the Smears!” with regard to RJC condemnation of Hitler. NJDC proclaims Hitler a victim of Evangelical Christian conservatism and promises to support his candidacy.
If this sounds far-fetched, NJDC has already whitewashed MoveOn.org’s anti-Semitic hate speech and has no problem with the prominent racist and anti-Semite Al Sharpton.
so much for that bullshit from Gallup. Gallup, IIRC, only polled “adults”, this was a poll of “voters”.
For me, one of the most special things about Israel is its commitment to doing what is necessary to keep Jews around the world safe from persecution. Even so, as an American I do not vote with Israel as my first priority because I live in the US. I don’t think that has anything to do with party affiliation for me.
Last time I was in Israel, Bush was still president. I asked my Israeli family what they thought of him and they responded that they liked him for Israel, but he wasn’t their president and what mattered was what I (and other Americans) thought of him. I think to a large extent this viewpoint works best both ways.
I’m relatively sure Obama will receive less of the Jewish vote this time around because about half the Jews I know who voted for Obama in 2008 were on the fence then. I don’t really foresee a large portion of the Jewish population staying home on Election Day, but I also think many who voted for Obama are reluctant to vote for a Social Conservative so it should be interesting.
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/30/more-evidence-that-obamas-fundraising-numbers-are-lagging/
On Wednesday the Obama campaign sent around a slightly panicky email about its quarterly fundraising numbers. Today, they have sent out another, slightly panickier, email about their quarterly fundraising numbers. The email is titled “Midnight,” just to make it a little bit scary.
Friend –
If you’re planning on donating to this campaign at any point in the next 16 months, you should do it now.
Tonight at midnight is not just your last chance to enter the “Dinner with Barack and Joe” contest, it’s also a hugely important fundraising deadline for this campaign — the first time we’ll report on our progress to the public and the press.
The next few hours are critical for us. Please donate $5 or more today:
Later in the email, Team O runs with a bit stronger language:
Come next fall, people might not remember this date — or make the connection between the strength of our campaign then and the steps we took in these early months. But anyone worth their salt in politics knows tonight is one of the most important tests we’ll face as a campaign this year. (emphasis added)
Really — a quarterly fundraising number is “one of the most important tests we’ll face as a campaign this year”? Only if your numbers have gone south and you expect that to generate a lot of static about your campaign’s weakness. The Obama campaign could be playing a head game here, but I wasn’t alone in taking yesterday’s email as a sign of weak numbers. We’ll see soon enough; midnight tonight is the close of this quarter, so the campaign’s numbers will be due for release shortly.
“...my guess is that in the majority of these instances, Israel will not be foremost on their minds when they vote for President next year”.
YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD! Israel is NOT foremost in these Jews’ minds, if it were, they NEVER would have voted for Barry in the first place!
More Jews will vote GOP and not talk about it.
Jumping to conclusions. Dislike for Obama does not necessarily translate to dislike for Democrats. True believers always believe that their system will work if only the right person (Hillary?) was in charge. They will never admit that socialist theory itself is the problem.
Read the Gallup story in its entirely and look at the graphs. You'll see that Zero's approval rating with Jews - even with Gallup's flawed methodology - went from 83% at the time of the anointment to 60% in their last polls. I'd call that serious slippage. The headline was misleading, probably written by a 'Rat specifically to get out the phony message that all is well with Jews in Obamaland.
They yukked it up at their event in 2008 when black congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) (who in an earlier life was a federal judge impeached for taking a bribe) said that Sarah Palin was racist and antisemitic because she owns guns and hunts moose! I kid you not. That's how sick the NJDC is.
True, but assuming that O will be on the ballot in 2012 with a "D" aside his name, dislike for Obama will translate into dislike for the 'Rats, at least in the presidential race.
For the general population, Obama at the top of the ticket will discourage votes for ANY Democrat, but, as you point out, Jewish voters are used to parsing their ballots, opting for a liberal Republican over an anti-Semite Democrat.
So Jews in Florida might vote for a Republican for president but will dutifully vote Bill Nelson over the Republican senate candidate.
I’ll believe in a changing Jewish vote when it shows up in Florida and hopefully New Jersey, the only states where the Jewish vote really matters.
A sad, but still relevant commentary on this societal phenomenon:
I assume you are talking only presidential elections, and I'd agree that Florida, judging by recent election history, is the most likely state where the Jewish vote could matter. But there are several others, where in a very tight contest, it could matter. New Jersey could be one of those, as well as Pennsylvania and Ohio. I can tell you from talking to people connected to the Republican Jewish Coalition that they also target Arizona and Nevada, where newer Jewish communities could also make a difference.
Pennsylvania has maybe 150,000 Jewish voters; Ohio has half that many. Out of 5-6 million voters in each state, that’s grasping at straws!
Thanks... and I have since posting this. Appreciate it.
LLS
For the sake of argument, let's say your numbers are correct. That would still mean that the Jewish voters could be decisive if the race in PA is decided by two points or less or if the race in Ohio is decided by one point or less. Neither of those scenarios are outside the realm of possibility.
For two-point or less elections, finding unregistered evangelicals, or flipping Democrat-voting self-proclaimed evangelicals is far more realistic.
Jews matter big-time, just not the actual ballot numbers and location.
“Israel is NOT foremost in these Jews’ minds, if it were, they NEVER would have voted for Barry in the first place!”
Israel should not be foremost in American Jews’ minds; the United States should be. Israel, as a fellow democracy, deserves however the support of all Americans (just like the UK versus Argentina for example).
Also, anybody who puts the US first will not vote for Obama under any circumstances.
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