That’s an astoundingly low number by historical standards. Typical outcomes for American elections have Jews voting 75-83% Democrat.

I think the reasons include the economy, the serious anger at the way Washington has been unable to fix unemployment while saving the banks that caused this mess and, to a lesser extent, a sense that many Dems have turned against Israel.

Having Israel become a partisan issue in DC is a very bad thing. Israel should always remain a bi-partisan issue in the US and those folks who are out there beating this drum should be well aware of the harm they are causing in the long-run.

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themiddle

12 Comments

  • Still no post about Jon Stewart inviting and hugging the Jihadi Yusuf Islam at that stupid ass rally the other day I see. And you wonder why Jews turn away from the left?

    I don’t get what you are saying here, that having a more diverse Jewish community is bad and that we should think more like a monolithic group? Also, it has a lot more to do with Dems turning against Israel. How about a steady stream of anti-Semitism from the left? Knee-jerk support of Muslim issues in order to appear open-minded and tolerant, even when those issues or people (Ellis, Yusuf Islam, Ground Zero Mosque) by the left? The fact that 3 of my local reps (who got relected unfortunately) signed that letter to have Obama put more pressure on Israel?

    The 66% is great news. 50% would seem more sane, but in reality it should be the other way. This posty basically screams “stay on the plantation”.

    • This response is dedicated to every hypocrite and idiot out there who is Jewish and votes republican: When G-d commanded Jonah to go before the people of Nineveh and tell them to give up their evil ways he fled because Nineveh was an enemy of the Israelites, and while thay were not hell bent on killing every single israelite merely because he was an israelite, they were in fact enemies. G-d saw to it the made it to Nineveh anyway. Upon hearing Jonah’s message they begged for forgivness and turned back their evil ways and did what was right. That infuriated Jonah who still wanted to see Nineveh and its assyrian inhabidents end up like those in Sodom. Therefore G-d sent the tree only to be eaten by a worm, in order to teach him that G-d created all people and therefore all people should have Justice and that he was a hypocrite for mourning fo a tree while he prayed for the destruction of the largest city in that era. That being said Jews such as myself who believe in G-d should not vote for a group which spits upon the less fortunate in this country period unless there opponent actually advocates killing every single Jew that lives. While many Liberals do not like Israel (which is hypocratical on their part because every aspect of Domestic policy advocated by them is in line with the Democrats domestic policy) i will still vote for them. If I had to choose between a moderate republican such as Mass. Senator Scott Brown and some ultra liberal nut advocating that the United States accept the idiotic idea that Hamas is the legitimate ruler of Gaza and the West Bank (until Hamas recognizes israel’s right to exist the very idea is counter productive to the peace process) then I would vote for that moderate republican. But if it was some republican who advocates lowering taxes on the rich and further cutting thier while eliminating social security, medicaire, medicaid, funding for education, funding for infrastructure, and the EPA, I would vote for whoever opposes him/her unless their opponent demanded that Israel be Nuked by the United States or somthing along those specific lines. I am a die hard Jew and I will be forever, you can make me vote republican but I will never be republican as long as I live.

      • Ninveh’s people Ashur would go back to their evil ways, kill many Jews and exile the 10 tribes that have disappeared until today. Jonah was right. You my friend in my humble opinion are wrong.

  • Any numbers on specific races? I’m especially curious as to what amount Sestak got. My contention was that if he got below 65% of the Jewish vote, he would lose. However, the CNN exit poll page shows the crosstabs on Jews as N/A.

  • TM, are you confusing midterm turnouts with Presidential election years? The tale of these midterms has been lower Democratic turnout and higher Republican turnout, which does not mean that fewer Jews voted Democratic, just that fewer Jewish Democrats came out to vote.

    Joshua, here are the numbers on Sestak’s race from J Street’s exit polling:

    Fact #7: 71% of Pennsylvania’s Jews voted for Senate Candidate Joe Sestak in his loss, despite months of Israel-related attacks with a heavy investment from right-wing groups like Emergency Committee for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition.

    Fact #8: 86% of Pennsylvania Jewish voters indicated that they were either unaware of the criticism (70%) or that it made no difference in their vote even if they were aware of the criticism (16%).

  • Um, no. Historically, Jews vote in the high seventies/low eighties for Democratic candidates. In 2006, they gave 87% of their votes to Dems.

    http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=6253&TM=280.131

    This year: 66%.

    Sestak’s 71% (assuming J Street didn’t fudge that number to make it look better than it actually was, since this is based on exit polling) is also historically low by Jewish Democratic voting patterns.

    Hmmmm…I wonder whether J Street is helping or hurting Democrats.

  • Maybe Israel is becoming a partisan issue because the Jewish community itself is more openly divided over the policies of this and previous Israeli governments. (Or at least, so it appears to an outsider.) Further, the Republicans are going to try to eat away at Jewish support for the Dems. Someone like Cantor can be expected to be quite vocal about it.

    Much depends on the Obama presidency going forward. If he’s stymied on the domestic front, will Obama look to the Middle East, like his two predecessors, to build a legacy? (French presidents have the good sense to confine themselves to public works projects.) I think the odds favor a highly-polarizing, go-for-broke Obama effort to get the parties to endorse a sweeping US proposal to resolve the conflict. That’s bound to inflame partisan divisions.

  • The middle, I think J-Street has done more harm than good for Democrats.

    I also think that having more Republican Jewish candidates such as Illinois Senator-elect Mark Kirk, shifted the Jewish votes in this particular election.

    Jews vote for democratic, but they also vote for Jews.

  • I think AlexK nailed it on the head… The left is trying to hard not to offend anyone… When the ones they are not trying offend want to wipe us off the planet… Sure let’s placate these people..

  • Way to go exercising that #newtone you liberals tell everyone else they should use. Not one thing in your tirade convinced me, but makes me want to work harder to convince other Jews that voting for Democrats is like voting for the devil. 🙂 Plus, I’ll use the misinformation and faulty logic you peddled in my argument. So thanks, I guess.

  • Haha. These type of comments or examples of sanity is why I haven’t read this blog in months. Enjoy your echo chamber. It seems that the liberal Jewish mindset is as hardened and static as Obama’s hatred of domestic energy production.