Lieberman may also be close to the cuff.
Note (slightly off topic) JPost:While his Judaic social conservatism appeared to draw gentile votes to the Democrats in 2000, it can help move some Jewish ones into the Republican column in 2008, or at least make Obama invest a lot of time and money into holding on to what is normally an assured constituency. (He has already been doing just that in his battle against Clinton for the nomination.)
IT DOESN'T take much of a Jewish realignment to make a significant difference, given the high turn-out rate for Jews and their presence in swing states like Florida. When Ronald Reagan won slightly more than 40% of the Jewish vote in 1980 against Jimmy Carter, that shift of traditionally-reliable Democrats was vital to his victory. Although Reagan had a landslide in the electoral college, his share of the popular vote barely exceeded 50%.
Reagan’s “only” 50.7% of the vote in 1980 greatly understates his popularity that year. The Demodog was beaten by nearly 10%, gaining only 41.0%. Meanwhile, classic, very well known, “popular”, Rockefeller Republican Anderson pulled a lot of vote strength primarily from Reagan.
In 1984, Reagan managed 58+%, to 40+%.
Both years, Reagan was clearly a run-away favorite of the people.