Republicans Respond: The Jewish Vote

I got a nice email from the Communications Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition in response to my recent diary discussing the Jewish Vote in this election. I want to say I appreciate her response. She claims that the exit polls showing the overwhelming Democratic Jewish vote I mention in the above diary on are inacurate and that Jews are now voting 26% Republican according to exit polls done by her organization rather than the 12% indicated by the media-run polls cited by the National Jewish Democratic Council that I mention in my previous diary.

I am happy to pass along her comment, but I should say that I believe the NJDC numbers to be reasonable and to correspond with my experiences. Both NJDC and RJC are partisan and their numbers should be taken with grains of salt. However the RJC poll is partisan, while the NJDC is citing a non-partisan poll conducted by the media. Doesn't necessarily make the NJDC data better, but the partisanship of the polls must be taken into account.

The Philadelphia Jewish Voice has an interesting and relavent article showing that there are very few Jewish Republicans in office or running for office. When one looks at who is running, there is still a sharp preference for the Democratic Party.

Republicans have boasted in recent years that Jewish Americans, who traditionally vote for and contribute money to Democrats, are supporting the GOP in greater numbers both financially and at the polls.

But the Republican Party has made little if any headway recruiting Jewish candidates to run for office under the party’s banner.

There are 20 Jewish Democratic challengers running for House and Senate seats this fall but only two Jewish Republican challengers, according to data compiled by the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)...

The lack of Jewish Republican candidates may suggest that the party’s strong stance in support of Israel, particularly since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, may not have been as effective as the hierarchy hoped...

The 22 Jewish House Democrats and three Jewish Democratic senators are not only running in major cities where historically Jews have had a disproportionate influence on politics, some like Gary Trauner, Gabby Giffords and John Yarmuth, are challenging GOP incumbents in Wyoming, Arizona and Kentucky, respectively.

Even in the most Republican of states, there are few Jewish Republicans. In the Alaska state legislature, for example, there are five Jewish lawmakers, four Democrats and one Republican.

Republicans are strongly pro-Israel. But so are the Democrats. We always have been. And Jews are practical. They do not like the way Republicans are cozying up to the Saudis, supported al-Qaeda and the Taliban precursor groups in the past, and destabilize the whole region making it more dangerous for Israel. Only during Democratic Administrations do peace initiatives progress between Israel and its neighbors. The historic Camp David Agreement between Israel and Egypt was brokered by Carter and Mondale. Clinton had taken the Palestinians and Israelis a long way towards peace, efforts that were neglected once Bush took office. No significant progress has been made under Republican administrations. Jews are well aware of that and they prefer peace to war. Stability and peace are what Israel needs for its economy to be strong.

I think one thing is very clear, though. Jews remain overwhelmingly Democratic, even if you take the RJC numbers. Given that even Ariel Sharon preferred Kerry over Bush, I think the Republican attempts to woo the Jewish vote will seldom get further than they already have.

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