The Jewish Vote explained crystal clear

myself | myself

[Jaysin]

Hi all:

As an orthodox (obervant) Jew, I want to explain to everyone about the Jewish vote, why we vote the way we do, and most importantly to us conservatives--the future of the Jewish vote.

First off, most of the Jewish democrats are older. they vote with some preconceived notion that the democratic party represents the people and the underdog (Jews have historically been a persecuted minority)

Many Jews have a complete disdain for their heritage (as most of my family does) So they see religion as "the old world" and the rigidness of Orthodox Jewish Law as barbaric. Democrats (supposedly) represent the enlightened view. Most Jews are very intelligent and overthink, overanalyze, and overeverything to the point that they lose their minds.

Believe it or not, but Israel is NOT the main thing concerning Jews. it really isn't--the more secular they are, the less connection to Israel, and most Hassidim wont even acknowledge Israel's existence as a governing state.

And now the cold hard reality of things. The Jewish demographics of America are changing very rapidly. The non-orthodox Jewish community is rapidly declining through such factors as intermarriage, loss of identity, having less children at a later age, and old-age. The orthodox community is by far the fastest growing element of the Jewish world (both here and in Israel) today. Orthodox Jews are generally intelligent, business savvy, socially conservative, and we stick together. the average orthodox home consists of 5 to 8 children. There is also a large "Ba'al Teshuva" (secular Jews becoming orthodox) movement throughout the world (including myself--I come from a standard unaffiliated family and have become quite observant in the past 5 years)

The orthodox Jews vote conservative because it is what we believe is the more morally correct party to vote for. We are not interested in gay rights, leftism, radicalism, blind peace treaties etc....

I believe the Jewish vote in 2004 was considerably higher then 24%. Orthodox Jews only live in certain communities, and many of them keep their views to themselves. over the past year I met AT LEAST 25 Jews who voted Gore in 2000 and were now 100% for Bush. It was almost a give-in that the people sitting next to me in services were Republicans. I did meet several Jews that weren't thrilled with Bush but were voting for him because of his strong stand on terrorism and because "they just couldn;t vote for Kerry"

SO now for the future--the stereotypical Boca Raton Jewish liberals are in their 70's and 80's. They will only be able to influence the next 2 elections at the most. The orthodox community is growing rapidly and these younger Jews are staunch Conservatives (usually). I seriously predict that the Jewish vote will be more and more Republican in each subsequent election and it might even be fair to say that by 2016--a majority of the Jews in America will vote Republican.

All is of this is just my opinion but I would bet on it if I were a gambling man.

SO with all that said, It is Friday, and I am going to go home for the Sabbath and discuss the election with my friends.

[73nole]

I'm Jewish as well though not religous at all. I live in Florida. We were all brought up being told by our parents that we were Democrats.

Whe you look at the historic Jewsih vote we were at 11% for Bush senior and now about 24%. Thats sad but its movement and it is true that the knee jerk older urban Jew from NY/NE America are dying out. Maybe I'm being optimistic but I expect this % to increase every election.

In our case{not mine}, the candidate was a Texan with a Southern accent. The Jews couldn't relate to that or the vote total would have been higher.

[Alouette]

I do hope that's 3 more grandkids.

2 daughters and 1 daughter-in-law. I'm officially retired from the baby-manufacturing business. Now I have a crabby old man to take care of (not as much fun as a cute little infant)

[Alouette]

the candidate was a Texan with a Southern accent. The Jews couldn't relate to that

Hey, my daughter MARRIED a Texan (born in Austin, raised in Houston), but no Southern accent (his parents are transplanted Yankees)

[Alberta's Child]

You've confused my use of the word "socialism" with the concept of "Communism."

It's no coincidence that most Jewish immigrants were quite comfortable in the urban centers of North America during the time period you described; they were primarily from urban centers of Eastern Europe and were used to the notion of living in a society where governments assumed many of the responsibilities that immigrants from rural areas took for themselves.

It's also no coincidence that almost all of these cities where these eastern European immigrants landed ended up turning into bastions of Marxism over the last 100 years, even across national borders -- New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal, etc.

I'm not even suggesting there's a religious element to it. The Jewish immigrants in New York City did no worse than the Poles in Chicago.

[Hildy]

Hey Jaysin, thank you for that explanation. My non-Jewish friends always ask me to explain to them why Jews are historically Democrats and as much as I can tell them, they still have a hard time understanding. I do believe you are right. The Boca Jews are dying off.

May I ask what part of the Country you live in?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Just make sure you log off by sundown.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Hey Jaysin, thank you for that explanation. My non-Jewish friends always ask me to explain to them why Jews are historically Democrats and as much as I can tell them, they still have a hard time understanding.

One big factor, according to my parents' recollections (I haven't done the research myself to verify this) was that, during the late 1930s, the Democrats (under FDR) were very anti-Hitler, while the Republicans urged US neutrality (until Pearl Harbor) and opposed letting Jewish refugees from the Nazis into the US.

[expatpat]

When the baby-boomers are gone, the Demorat Party is either gone or very different. The socialist demography is quite small, but of course there are the gays, the welfare crowd, government workers, etc.

[.45MAN]

I like your explination.. Has some logic in it, I have been wondering why the older Jews here vote democratic and the American Jews in Israel vote for Bush and I am glad to hear that the orthodox Jews are growingin this country.

[Remole]

Shabbat Tovah!

[GoMonster]

I agree. My brother in law, sister, mother etc.. voted for Bush. My grandmother I couldn't get to change. God bless her but she will most likely make just one more election. She is 91.

[Red Badger]

Solution: Ignore the gays (they'll go away)

Reduce welfare rolls with better economy (Tax Reform)

Reduce the size of Government (consolidate redundant functions)

Result: No more demokratz....

[najida]

Means fewer blue states each and every year.

[Walkingfeather]

Oh to sit in on that conversation, that would be so much fun for me. This is great info. Thank you for sharing it.

[Age of Reason]

The next election will be even less liberal.

LOL. The country hasn't gotten less liberal.

The republicans have gotten more liberal, to get more of that vote.

[paltz]

Believe it or not, but Israel is NOT the main thing concerning Jews. it really isn't--the more secular they are, the less connection to Israel, and most Hassidim wont even acknowledge Israel's existence as a governing state.

I tend to wonder if this is just a lazy western point of view called "If I'm ok then you're ok, so obviously everyone else is ok in the world"

[Red Badger]

I was referring to the electorate.....

[expatpat]

It works for me.

[Alouette]

The correct greeting is Shabbat Shalom!

I have 30 minutes here before I have to logoff.

[Alouette]

I'm not even suggesting there's a religious element to it.

You're not only clueless, but you're a liar (or suffer from short-term memory loss)

the primary reason for left-leaning politics among American Jews is their family ancestry.