:sadSheldonAdelson: Why American Jews don’t (and won’t) vote Republican

[zerozero]

Why American Jews don’t vote Republican

The minority of Jews I’ve met (both in Canada and the United States) who do express hatred for Obama on the Israel file generally fall into a very specific culture-warrior subset. They often are older Jews who have become radicalized, in the aftermath of 9/11, by mass-circulated emails and YouTube videos that purport to portray Obama as a closet Muslim who is out to annihilate the Jewish state. (As an example, consider a Israel National News article entitled “Obama’s Plan to Destroy Israel.” People email me this kind of nonsense every day.) Because these Jews’ primary political interaction, on the Internet at least, tends to be with other like-minded anti-Obama culture warriors, they find it astonishing when, on election day, a majority of co-0religionists vote Democrat.

And why do most Jews vote Democrat? Simple: Because U.S. Jews are overwhelmingly urban, educated and very, very liberal. In 2008, for instance, 45% of surveyed American Jewish voters described themselves as “liberal,” versus about 12% who described themselves as “conservative” — a difference of 33%. And that difference has actually grown (from 22%) since 1976.

Moreover, women vote more than men — and American Jewish women are an especially liberal voting bloc. I once heard dikk Morris say in a speech that they are the most socially liberal group in the entire United States. Why, exactly, would these people vote for a Republican party whose official position is anti-abortion and pro-gun, and whose cultural identity is defined in large part by rural Evangelical Christians?

As a correspondent reminds me, Jews were at the forefront of America’s union, feminist and civil-rights movements. Their history has conditioned them to believe in collective action in the fight for social justice — a political instinct that runs directly against the Tea Party’s single-minded obsession with laissez-faire capitalism.

Even the Israel issue itself can go both ways. On a practical and political level, it is a blessing for Zionists that so many Evangelicals support the Jewish state. But sometimes, their fervor on Israel actually can seem eccentric and off-putting. On my trips to Israel, I’ve found that many of the most fervent Zionist Christians will dip into apocalyptic fantasies rooted in their belief that non-Christians will be annihilated once the Jews of the world gather in the Holy Land. If I were a Jewish-American voter, I’m really not sure I would want to endorse the Book of Revelations on my election ballot.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Dated a Jewish girl for 6 years. Her family history involved escaping the holocaust. FDR is their patron saint and any liberal earns gigantic bonus points in any election. And yes, education is a huge factor, because it is one of the biggest determinants of how a person will be voting.

It's no mistake that the more educated and intelligent you become, the more likely you are to become liberal.

 

[zerozero]

Dated a Jewish girl for 6 years. Her family history involved escaping the holocaust. FDR is their patron saint and any liberal earns gigantic bonus points in any election. And yes, education is a huge factor, because it is one of the biggest determinants of how a person will be voting.

It's no mistake that the more educated and intelligent you become, the more likely you are to become liberal.

yeah pretty much the whole republican playbook for jewish people is (1) many of you are rich and we like the rich and (2) we hate ay-rabs and love jerusalem. That's not gonna work anymore than cozying up to rich Asians would work on something like this. Minority groups who are high income are culturally alienated from the GOP's white rural evangelical base and are super concerned about things like civil rights, etc.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

yeah pretty much the whole republican playbook for jewish people is (1) many of you are rich and we like the rich and (2) we hate ay-rabs and love jerusalem. That's not gonna work anymore than cozying up to rich Asians would work on something like this. Minority groups who are high income are culturally alienated from the GOP's white rural evangelical base

Yeah, the way that the Asian turnout resulted was probably the most pleasant surprise this election. Gotta love that love of education!