More puzzling why Jews back democrats.
Actually it's not puzzling at all (although it's certainly in vogue around here to express puzzlement). Jewish liberals, Catholic liberals, and Protestant liberals all vote for Democrats because they're .....well, liberals. And the moderates among them usually vote Donkey because of tradition and the (false) assumption that the Dems are the party of the underdog.
“More puzzling why Jews back democrats.”
Not when you break it down by denomination. Reform Judaism is the Unitarianism of Jews...very liberal, with no hard moral principles. The Ten Commandments become more like The Ten Helpful Hints For Better Living. The very notion that you can “reform” the word of God is a big clue here. If Episcopalians are cafeteria Christians, Reform temples are cafeteria Jews. And Reform is the biggest Jewish denomination in America. Advantage, Democrats.
Gay? Screw Leviticus, lets have that “commitment ceremony”!
The more conservative a Jew is in his faith, the more conservative he’s likely to be in his politics.