[Uncle Miltie]

According to The Hill, “The lawmakers met privately ... with nearly 80 Jewish interest groups to make their case. Although Jews make up slightly more than 2 percent of all Americans, they have played a wider political role for both demographic and financial reasons. Jews are concentrated in such battleground states as Florida and Ohio. In the era of soft money, an estimated 50 to 70 percent of large contributions to the Democratic Party and allied political units came from Jewish donors. While President Bush won only 19 percent of the Jewish vote in 2000, Republican candidates garnered 35 percent of the Jewish vote in 2002.”

http://www.acjna.org/acjna/articles_detail.aspx?id=323

Candidates Vie for Jewish Support by Embracing Israeli Government Policies

Allan C. Brownfeld, Editor; Special Interest Report; May - June 2004

[justiceseeker93]

Thanks for the link. I don't know where they got the estimate that "50 to 70 percent of large contributions to the 'Rats and and allied political units came from Jewish donors." I'd say that percentage was high in 2004, and even now, but not 50% to 70%.

At least that article, despite the fact it came from a leftist Jewish web site, suggested that Republicans were actively courting "Jewish leaders" and making gains improving their acceptability in the Jewish community.

I suppose the major point of your link is that Republicans even in 2004 had valid reasons to claim they were the more pro-Israel of the two major parties. Yes, that's very true, but Republicans have been saying this since at least 1985, when the Republican Jewish Coalition (formerly the National Jewish Coalition) was established. This national organization of Jewish Republicans has grown impressively in membership since then.

Remember that Reagan in 1980 got a larger percentage of the Jewish vote than any GOP presidential candidate since Warren Harding.