The Sephardim vote Republican becasue they tend to be pretty religious and they don't have the goyishakop phobia, having grown up amongst Arabs, North Africans, Persians, Turks, etc.
This is why I believe that Sephardic Israelis are more hawkish than Ashkenazi Israelis. The Ashkenazis say "the Arabs are our cousins, why shouldn' we be able to make peace with them? Look, they even have hook noses like us". While the Sephardim say, "we grew up around these people and we'll trust them when they've been dead for a hundred years".
This is why I believe that Sephardic Israelis are more hawkish than Ashkenazi Israelis. The Ashkenazis say "the Arabs are our cousins, why shouldn' we be able to make peace with them? Look, they even have hook noses like us". While the Sephardim say, "we grew up around these people and we'll trust them when they've been dead for a hundred years".
Well . . . yeah, that's one way of looking at it. But who eats peas during Pesach?
All kidding aside, I believe the stricter, more uptight attitude of Orthodox 'Ashkenazim is closer to the outlook of Southern American Protestantism. The Sefaradim don't even divide into "branches," which in one sense is good (since you don't have separate yet allegedly equal "movements within Judaism"), but the esnoga parking lot is full of cars on Shabbat morning.
You'll have to exucuse me. The lax attitude of Sefaradim has led to a movement among them that accepts Biblical criticism and looks down its nose at Orthodox 'Ashkenazim for being "chr*stians who don't realize it." Granted that most anti-religious Jews in America (in fact, most Jews period) are 'Ashkenazim, and this might lead Southern Fundamentalists to assume that Sefaradim are more like them, and I honestly believe that it's the other way around.
What you say about the more hawkish position of Sefaradim in Israel is true, but I wasn't referring to the Israeli political spectrum in my post.