Posted on 11/02/2004 7:36:38 PM PST by white trash redneck
The American Jewish Committee, in a tiny sampling of roughly 200 Jewish voters in five battleground states, found roughly 12 to 13 percent of Jews who voted for Al Gore in 2000 switched parties and cast their vote for President George W. Bush on Tuesday.
"From our exit sampling, very strong support for Kerry. But strikingly, a fairly significant number of Jews switching from Gore in 2000 to Bush, somewhere in the order of 12-13%," said David Harris, AJC's executive director, who examined data, which he stressed was not scientific.
Bush won 19% and Gore 80% of the Jewish vote in 2000, according to exit polling. An AJC survey of American Jewish voters in September found 69% would support Kerry and 24% Bush. AJC's Tuesday results suggested slightly stronger gains for Bush in the community.
Harris said that nearly all voters who switched from Gore to Bush "identified either Israel or terrorism (and) 9/11 as the first reason for their decision."
It was not clear if those gains in the Jewish community would be enough to propel Bush to victory.
Overall turnout was extremely high on Tuesday and pundits speculated the large number of new voters would, overall, benefit Kerry. Also, whereas a percentage of Jews in the battleground states are voting for Bush because of his record on Israel or in fighting terrorism, Arab Americans – popular in the same key battleground states – have moved decidedly away from Bush, perhaps canceling out the gains.
Harris was reluctant to give overall tallies of how Jews polled in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin voted.
"Our principle aim was not numbers per say, it was Jewish voter motivation," he said. Larger exit voter surveys will provide that figure, he noted, "but they won't tell us what we want to know, which is why they voted the way they did and why they switched if they did."
While those who voted for Bush cited Israel and the war on terrorism as key motivating factors, the Kerry voter "is usually driven by domestic issues or it's based on personal qualities defined mostly by their dislike of President Bush," Harris said.
The surveys were sent to AJC members in the five battleground states via email. The email urged recipients to forward the survey to other Jews in their state.
AJC also separately polled 370 Russian Jews at precincts in New York and Philadelphia. Harris said the results were the "mirror image in the opposite direction" of the AJC's September poll. At least 75% said they were voting for Bush, citing his Israel stance and his strong leadership in the war on terrorism.
Jewish folks are smart.
Hopefully Ed Koch will turn out to be correct in his prediction that the Jewish vote would be the deciding factor in a Bush victory.
While these numbers are good, 200 persons is far from a scientific set. Also, I would hope that the President would do better amongst my fellow Jewish voters for his unprecedented support of Israel.
Good to see. Glad they woke up and recognized that our President was solid behind their Israel. Great! I support Israel 100%. They can toast the middle east for all I care. They are a strong country. Very tiny, surrounded by 500 million hating Arabs.
Great move on their part. Thank W for his great treatment of Arafat for these votes.
awesome
A lot of credit goes to Jeb and Ed Koch plus Rudy and maybe Savage.
Floridians love Jeb. He would make a great President but it would look too much like a monarchy. A real shame because Jeb is excellent.
With 79% of Florida precincts reporting, Bush is leading by 52%. Too close to call, but they probably haven't heard from the panhandle precincts where the polls stay open an hour later and are solidly for Bush.
Bush is also leading in Michigan.
Let's hope that the Dems on the left coast get discourage and stay home, while the Repubs give Bush the landslide he deserves!
Jewish folks have been monumentally STOOPID in their electoral choices.
Let's hope this election is the start of a change.
Big Whoop, +5 freakin %. Bush is the best friend Israel even had in the white House. Kerry would put the screws to Israel. Yet they still vote RAT. Pathetic.
Given that there are at least 5 million Jews in the US, I'd say we're looking at 2-2.5 million votes, easy, or a little more than the difference between Bush and Kerry right now in the national vote totals.
jewish folks are smart and New York amd new jersey voters are STUPID!!! UNGRATEFUL PUNKS!! IDIOT VOTERS!! McGreevey WON!! Homosexuals WON! I am so P*ssed at their ungratefulness, those hillbillies make me sick.
Wow! Hopefully that'll make a difference for us!
Don’t forget he’s also pulling in more women, Hispanics, Blacks, ect. A few votes here and a few votes there all add up. Even more importantly the trend may continue next election and the Democrats will have to use more recourses and political capital to prevent further erosion.
George W. Bush has been reelected! Four more years!
My peeps came through!! :))
Where are the rest of them on Moral Values????
Now I like that , they have a sense of what is important...
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