Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why Jewish Americans vote Democratic
The Manchester Guardian ^ | October 2, 2013 | Harry J. Enten

Posted on 10/03/2013 2:32:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

A striking aspect of the new Pew survey on Jewish Americans is how liberal Jews are. Is it good for the Democrats? You bet.

Why do people vote the way to do? For swing voters, the answer is usually the state of the economy. For most, however, voting patterns are surprisingly fixed. People tend to vote for one party consistently over time. For Jewish American voters, the party of choice has been the Democratic party.

Conservatives have been trying to crack the code for a number of years on how to get Jewish voters over to their side. Based on the findings of the new "Portrait of Jewish Americans" survey from the Pew Research Center, Republicans will need to find a different key. Jews are likely going to be Democrats for the foreseeable future.

Let's start with the fact that the most important determining factor of voting pattern is partisan affiliation. If you identify as a Democrat, you are far more likely to vote Democratic than if you identify as an independent or a Republican. In this instance, 70% of Jews self-identify as leaning to or members of the Democratic party. That compares with just 49% of the American public overall who at least lean Democratic. Only 22% of Jews consider themselves as leaning Republican, compared to 39% of the overall public. Orthodox Jews, who represent no more than 10% of the United States' Jewish population, tend to make up the majority of Republican Jews.

Given their self-identification, it's unlikely that Jewish Americans will break from their Democratic ways. But a closer look at why Jews are Democratic should give Republicans further pause....

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Issues; Parties; Polls
KEYWORDS: bho44; democrats; fundingtheleft; gop; jewishvote; judaism; polls
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-134 next last
To: Netz
They wanted to improve their standing in every nation they resided in. Can you blame them? Unfortunately almost all of these waves of change that they participated in backfired on them. I do not understand, why such an ancient and persecuted people like the Jews still CLING to causes that do not help them.

If they were not persecuted, they would no longer be Jews.

Think about it. The worst enemy of Judaism is assimilation, becoming so accepted that intermarriage causes the Jews to disappear as a distinct people (as is happening now in the US, with the intermarriage rate among non-Orthodox Jews being 71 percent, 58% overall).

Somebody who wanted Jews to persist as a distinct people would work hard to increase hostility and exclusion from the surrounding population.

41 posted on 10/03/2013 6:06:37 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Netz
I was raised Catholic, and both my parents were diehard Democrats for whom FDR was a deity. After I turned conservative I used to joke at them that they thought he was still living. They both firmly believed that the Dem Party was the "party that cared" and the those nasty Republicans were just for the rich people. They so ingrained these ideas in their children that I was really puzzled by one of my neighbors who had a Goldwater for president sticker on his car but who appeared to be one of the nicest guys around. How could that be? I thought all Republicans were evil, nasty persons who wanted to kill poor people?

That's how insidious the anti-Republican bias was in those days. People who think modern Republicans are depicted as evil ogres should have seen how Goldwater was characterized. There's basically little or no difference. The media and culture were almost as anti-conservative back then as they are now.

42 posted on 10/03/2013 6:06:51 AM PDT by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: chajin
...but American Jews have a “promised land,” Israel, and those with the future-looking, religiously motivated, entrepreneurial spirit become Israelis, leaving behind what becomes a greater percentage of American Jews being more European-socialist, meaning Democrats.

Excellent point but go convince, secular, assimilated Jews that Israel, their Promised Land is indeed waiting for them.
No, for the vast majority of Jews in America, America IS THE Promised Land. Israel is not REALLY seen as their homeland, America is.

Fact, Israel was created in 1948, America's Jews voted with their feet to stay put in America. Fact, less than 25% of American Jews ever visited Israel! After 65 years, the Jews still prefer to go to Cancun, Bahamas or China before setting foot in Israel! They are alienated from Israel or scared to feel a connection to her.

The Jews of America will gladly contribute money to send Russians or Ethiopian Jews straight to Israel but that's where it stops. Unfortunately Israel is seen by American Jewry as it was framed in 1947-48, a place for unfortunate souls who have no choice, the wretched refugee remnants of WWII. Not for me, for some other poor SOB.
The truth is, is that Israel is an amazingly advanced, Democratic, Western a open society where the mortality rate is lower than in the USA. Israel is a young and dynamic entrepreneurial society moving at light speed ahead and this, despite the wars, terror and financial blackmailing by the Arab boycotts!
BTW, Israel WAS European Socialist under Ben Gurion and thank G-d, they dropped that ideology with the rise of the Likud party PM, Menachem Begin in 1977. Now they are a fully fledged market-driven economy leaving the Arabs in the dust.

American Democratic Jews do not really understand Israeli Republican Jews because each side's reality is very different. They are brothers but the Israelis are firmly planted on the ground and have no time for whimsical Left wing BS even though many of the elites there were copying the American Jewish approach to conflict resolution. That was called the “Oslo Peace Process” - what a bitter lesson that was.

Now American Jewry is more concerned with Trans-gender Homo rights while their Israeli brethren have to contend with being annihilated by Iran and an American President Man-child who won't be there for them...

What a world of difference!!

43 posted on 10/03/2013 6:11:22 AM PDT by Netz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625

I disagree with the “divide and conquer” concept.

There is no Jewish overall plan to divide Americans into groups.
The opposite.

They would love to see a starry-eyed, one world planet where evrybody could “just get along” while singing Joan Baez and gazing at their navels...no plan here, just foolish idealism.


44 posted on 10/03/2013 6:14:44 AM PDT by Netz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: driftless2

In RAT’S eyes, a Republican is a cigar-chomping, unfeeling, cold-hearted, Capitalist exploiter (with a black top hat) of the “common man” who’s octopus tentacles are connected to the Trusts and the Military Industrial Complex.

This is a very strong image to alter in the minds of the public. Of course we have to have a healthy skepticism about the role of government but Republicans are ALWAYS portrayed in this light.

Vietnam only solidified this image and today’s boomers still carry the bitter taste of Republicans filtered through CBS’ Walter Conkrite (and I loved the guy).

How EVIL MacNamara, Nixon, Kissinger, Westmorland, Ford, the Bush’s, Palin and Romney and ANY Republican can be.

In short, Republicans are greedy warmongers while DemocRATS are for the common man. It doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.


45 posted on 10/03/2013 6:26:32 AM PDT by Netz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Daveinyork

“Traditional” Judaism does not have a “pulpit”, nor does it have a “sermon”. These are not Jewish terms. Of course they can be used but it just goes to show you where the Reformed mindset is. Even a “Confirmation” ceremony held in many Reformed synagogues is a Christian term...add the organ and viola! You have a church replete with those flowing Baptist gowns! :-)

It’s OK, I was raised Reformed too...


46 posted on 10/03/2013 6:32:30 AM PDT by Netz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

At last! A succinct and plausible explanation.


47 posted on 10/03/2013 6:48:27 AM PDT by Silentgypsy (the seed spawn of zor-ketthraa!.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Netz

OK, a beemah


48 posted on 10/03/2013 8:08:55 AM PDT by Daveinyork (IER)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Article should have used the term American Jews, not Jewish Americans.


49 posted on 10/03/2013 8:35:08 AM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: anton

As recently as the 1950s, there were quotas at major universities that restricted the admission of Jews - my own family dentist had to go to another country to learn dentistry - there were many areas where they couldn’t by homes, and major companies that wouldn’t hire Jews. Add to that hotels that wouldn’t accept them as guests and country clubs they could not join.
All of this was perceived as the action and mindset of a Protestant Republican establishment. The Dems positioned themselves as welcoming immigrants and being for the underdog.


50 posted on 10/03/2013 8:52:49 AM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Pollster1
Silly comment. What percentage of blacks were Republican from 1860 to 1964? What percentage were from 1976 to today? Those biases can be changed relatively quickly by the right circumstances.

Actually the black vote was perfectly republican until 1936, and then instantly switched to perfectly democrat that year, it is unique, they went from a pure GOP voting record to a pure dem voting record, instantly.

Jews have never gone republican, ever, in fact when given major candidates to the left of the dems (as in the 1920s), they flocked to them.

In 1920 while the democrat got 19% of their vote, the Socialist Party got 38% of it.

51 posted on 10/03/2013 9:29:35 AM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: kabumpo

Nonsense, Jews vote democrat because the party represents their politics.


52 posted on 10/03/2013 9:31:40 AM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: chajin
In one political sense, Jews are no different from Gentiles: just as liberal-churched (ELCA, PCUSA, UMC, Episcopal) and non-churched Gentiles tend to be Democrats/Greens, while small-o orthodox-churched (LCMS, ARP, SBC, AOG, traditional Catholics) Gentiles tend to be Republicans/Libertarians, Reform, Reconstructionist, and non-synagogue Jews tend to be Democrats/Greens, while Orthodox and Conservative-synagogue Jews tend to be Republicans/Libertarians.

The Protestant vote has only gone democrat three times, 1932, 1936, and 1964, the Catholic vote has only gone republican 5 times, Jews have never gone republican.

53 posted on 10/03/2013 9:38:58 AM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Netz
""This foolish devotion to FDR and the RAT party was actually passed down from the WWII generation to their Baby Boomer kids JUST in time for Vietnam! What a cocktail of doom!""
""Vietnam only solidified this image and today’s boomers still carry the bitter taste of Republicans filtered through CBS’ Walter Conkrite (and I loved the guy).""

In 1972 with the Vietnam War, the draft, the hippies, the under 30 vote easily went for Republican Richard Nixon 52% to 46%.

The under 30 vote was good during the boomer period and then went permanently democrat after the boomers grew out of it.

54 posted on 10/03/2013 9:48:05 AM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Their “politics” are the result of the experiences I described.


55 posted on 10/03/2013 10:13:01 AM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: kabumpo

No, Jews that immigrated to America just tended to be leftists and socialists, radicals.

That is why Debs and the Socialist Party was winning an astonishing 38% of their vote in 1920, it wasn’t because of the differences between the democrats and the republicans in religious makeup or that one was Southern and one Northern.


56 posted on 10/03/2013 10:48:09 AM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Netz; 2ndDivisionVet; PA Engineer; lowbridge; MeshugeMikey; Bluestocking; Ooh-Ah; KC_Lion; ...
In RAT’S eyes, a Republican is a cigar-chomping, unfeeling, cold-hearted, Capitalist exploiter (with a black top hat) of the “common man” who’s octopus tentacles are connected to the Trusts and the Military Industrial Complex.

This is a very strong image to alter in the minds of the public. Of course we have to have a healthy skepticism about the role of government but Republicans are ALWAYS portrayed in this light.Vietnam only solidified this image and today’s boomers still carry the bitter taste of Republicans filtered through CBS’ Walter Conkrite (and I loved the guy).

How EVIL MacNamara, Nixon, Kissinger, Westmorland, Ford, the Bush’s, Palin and Romney and ANY Republican can be.

In short, Republicans are greedy warmongers while DemocRATS are for the common man. It doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.

These and similar stereotype images and myths which defy history and reason, yet are nonetheless commonly held by the Jewish Left, are every bit as pernicious and outrageous, if not more so, than the common stereotypes and images of Jews held by lowlife anti-Semites!

Naturally, few within that same Jewish Left would ever bring up the lousy record of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Administration with respect to the Jews in Nazi occupied Europe. No, this despite the large number who reportedly responded to the Pew(k) poll claiming that the Nazi Holocaust is the most important single factor defining their Jewish identity.

There's also quite a cognitive dissonance between the Jewish Left's purported identification with the Holocaust as Jews and their support for an even larger government in the US, despite the fact that Nazi Germany epitomized the evil of the Leviathan state, a government that had no limits in what it could do.

Haven't got a chance to review this Pew(k) poll in its entirety yet, but any evaluation of it must take into account that Pew(k) is a left-leaning organization and the posted article reviewing this Pew(k) poll comes out of even a more left-leaning Brit media entity, The Guardian. So a healthy dose of skepticism is advised in scrutinizing the methodology and results.

Specifically, I find it extremely difficult to believe that the percentage of Jews identifying as 'Rats hasn't significantly decreased in the Age of Obama, which this Pew(k) Poll seems to be telling us.

57 posted on 10/03/2013 3:01:29 PM PDT by justiceseeker93
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: kabumpo; All
As recently as the 1950s, there were quotas at major universities that restricted the admission of Jews...

They are still in existence for Jews (and others). Only now they are called "Affirmative Action."

The Dems positioned themselves as welcoming immigrants and being for the underdog.

Yes, like the Roosevelt Administration's actions with respect the the Jewish refugees attempting to flee Nazi-occupied Europe./(Sarc.) (And BTW, also their locking up of innocent Japanese Americans in detainment camps.)

58 posted on 10/03/2013 3:09:51 PM PDT by justiceseeker93
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: chajin

I wonder if there is a big political split between urban-living Jews and those Jews who live in rural areas. I mean, I can’t think of any other group that tends to live in urban areas as frequently as Jews but who also tend to vote more conservatively. Maybe it’s just a function of urban areas tending to produce liberals vs rural areas tending to produce conservatives.

Freegards


59 posted on 10/03/2013 3:20:11 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Ann Archy
I have heard the Jewish half of the family say that the Republican Party is TOO Christian....that and they LOVE ABORTION!

I'm a Jewish guy, and though I've come across Jewish females who advocate abortion, I've yet to meet one who is known to have had one (not including spontaneous abortion, aka "miscarriage"). So most of these loudmouth left Jewish women, who can't cite any Jewish authority for unrestricted abortion, are just plain hypocrites.

60 posted on 10/03/2013 3:37:55 PM PDT by justiceseeker93
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-134 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson