This is really pathetic, from my co-religionists. But, those I've run into who support him here do so because the Pope condemned the war (and they, erroneously, think Kerry was against the war, too, until I point out that he voted for it). The Pope did us no favors with his very vocal opposition to Iraq; it gives cover to those who know Kerry favors abortion.
And the Jews look to be a hopeless case. They've had no greater friend than Bush in his support for Israel, yet they can't shake off their historical patterns.
I've been reading Herman Wouk's The Hope and the Glory". As a southwest guy who really doesn't understand northeastern demographics, it explained a lot to me. Many of the Jews who came to the US came after WWII, or to flee Soviet and European persecution. Although they were attacked relentlessly by the powers that be in those countries, many of them adopted the politics of their home countries. That is to say, they are socialist-marxists. Also, many of them are not religious Jews, but ethnic Jews. If you look at these facts, you end up with non-religious, socialist-marxist people, or classic modern Democrats.
Religious Jews still fear persecution from Christians, and believe that Christians will try to convert them. While Christians will definitely try to convert Jews (it's part of the great commission), southern Christians strongly support the state of Israel, because in the end-times, those who stand against Israel will be standing against Christ.
Also, most non-religious Jews are post-modernists, which in western culture means that they attack white Protestant culture. Jeffrey Katzenberg, for example, created Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron, which was nothing other than a classic attack on the evil white man who destroyed the peaceful native Americans and was mean to his horses. The movie was about a $40 mil loss domestically, even though having produced Lion King, Shrek and Shrek2, Katz has shown he knows how to make a winner. The thing about Spirit was, it was his real politics. Most of the non-religious Jews do not realize that 98% of the world, especially the so-called multi-culturalists, would be thrilled to see the Arabs drive all of Israel back into the sea, because they think it would bring about the age of peace. The Moslems will never accept Israel, and the thinking of most of the world is that it's easier to get rid of 20 million Jews than 1 billion Arabs.
Jews were also galvanized to the Democrats because the Eisenhower Administration was far less friendly to Israel than the Kennedy Administration, and even though destroying the concentration camps was almost an accident, they loved Roosevelt for it.