Jewish Support For Obama Strong Despite Israel Stance

WASHINGTON - APRIL 3: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Associated Press luncheon during the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) Convention at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel April 3, 2012in Washington, D.C. Obama criticized the Republican budget proposal during his remarks. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

By Lauren Markoe
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) Despite Democratic worries that President Obama could lose Jewish support over his Middle East policies, a new poll indicates that Israel is not the top political issue of American Jews, with only 4 percent calling it the most important factor in their vote.

Like most Americans, Jews are primarily concerned about the economy, the poll found, but they differ from the general public on a number of political and social issues, including their relative willingness to accept Muslims and same-sex marriage.

The findings emerged Tuesday (April 3) from a new survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute, which aimed to identify the religious issues and ideas that Jewish Americans consider most important. The results, said PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones, show a strong Jewish streak for social and economic justice.

"These values resonate with religious Jews as well as Jews who identify as culturally or ethnically Jewish," he said.

Eight in 10 respondents said pursuing justice and caring for the widow and the orphan are important in shaping their politics -- ranking higher than any of the four other "values'" listed on the survey.

Ranking lowest: "seeing every person as made in the image of God," with 55 percent calling it a very or somewhat important motivator of their political beliefs.

More Jews (46 percent) named a "commitment to social equality" as the factor most important to their Jewish identity, followed by 20 percent who said "support for Israel" and 17 percent who said "religious observance."

As for Jewish views on Muslims, 66 percent agree that American Muslims are an important part of the U.S. religious fabric -- markedly higher than the 54 percent of all Americans who hold this view.

On the issue of same-sex marriage, 81 percent of Jews (compared to 51 percent of all Americans) believe it should be legal in all or most cases. The Reform movement, the largest and most liberal strain of American Judaism, allows same-sex marriage, along with parts of the Conservative movement.

The poll also showed Jewish voters' strong support for Obama. Twice as many said they would vote for Obama over a GOP candidate. That level of support is nearly unchanged from the same point during Obama's first presidential run.

Kenneth Wald, a political science professor who studies Jewish voting patterns at the University of Florida, said he has heard the political chatter that U.S. Jews are so upset with Obama's treatment of Israel that they will move away from their traditionally Democratic leanings and vote for a GOP challenger -- but the survey doesn't find evidence for that.

"About three out of four American Jews voted Democratic in 2008," Wald said. "Something relatively similar is likely to occur in 2012."

Jews also expressed a strong preference for diplomacy over military approaches in U.S. foreign policy, preferring diplomatic means by a more than two-to-one margin. But there are significant partisan differences on this issue, with 81 percent of Jewish Democrats choosing diplomatic tactics, compared to 35 percent of Jewish Republicans.

The survey of 1,004 American Jews, which was one of the few studies of Jews conducted by a non-Jewish organization, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. It was funded by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Comments

[Kolya Kalugin]

04:19 AM on 07/05/2012

Jews in the United States will continue to support Obama because they helped him reach the White House. The major Wall Street banks, AIPAC,the Anti-Defamtion Legue and the major Hollywood producers gave their support to Obama. The Jewish vote is in fact crucial, as they are well organized and funded and have key positions in the media. This is not anti-semitism, but rather an empirical fact that can be verified with some research. It is amazing how a well organized group with a political agenda can decide the fate of the US, sometimes even to the US's detriment such as the one-sided policy in the middle east. Americans should wake up and realize that a small minority of its popultion is wielding far too much power in areas such as foreign policy, the economy, culture and immigrattion policy.

[lookin]

04:24 PM on 04/05/2012

Yeah - okay blame the Jews. Jews make up 1.5 to 3 percent of the total U.S. population so how much of an impact can the entire Jewish vote make?

[Sean Thibault]

02:43 PM on 04/05/2012

Thank you

[JMM64]

10:51 PM on 04/04/2012

Most non-Orthodox Jews in America believe in Liberalism and Leftist politics over Judaism. It's ironic and sad that the least Jewishly educated and least practicing Jews consistently vote for the most liberal/left-wing candidates and justify their support as part of Judaism, while the most Jewishly knowledgeable Jews and most religiously practicing Jews consistently support the Conservative candidates. Obviously, this means that most liberal Jews on the Left have replaced their Judaism with Liberalism and Leftist ideology.

With the low birth rate and increased rate of assimilation among non-Orthodox Jews, the Jewish population in America will become more Orthodox and lean towards supporting conservative candidates since the non-Orthodox numbers will continually shrink. Everyone's family tree in America has relatives who have assimilated so far as to convert to another religion or just become a typical secular American with no allegiance to supporting Israel or to Judaism at all. They will be known as ''Americans with Jewish heritage'' just like Italian Americans are known as ''Americans with Italian heritage''. We, the American Non-Orthodox Jewish community, are quickly withering away.....

[floresislander]

10:50 AM on 04/05/2012

Reform and Conservative are the largest Jewish denominations not Orthodox.. Do you want the Jewish people to turn into a bunch of narrow minded fundamentalist righties ? Those fundamentalist righties are the very ones who persecuted the Jewish people to begin with...Christianity and Islam have already been taken over by the most extreme elements and it would be a tragedy for the same to happen to Judaism.. You are wrong about the Jewish community..........They will always stand for the oppressed and the persecuted.....If not then Buddhism will be the last holdout for people who want to think..

[JMM64]

12:19 PM on 04/05/2012

Regarding your post, I know very well Conservative Judaism since I was born into it, attended Conservative Jewish DAy school, and am now attending a Reform Synagogue. My original post is not from the stand point of an Orthodox Jew at all, but it's from the stand point of the current state of American Jewry. Demographic trend has been well-established of assimilation of American Jews. Common sense tells us that any religion can only be perpetuated by people who practice it and are knowledgeable about it. ''Lox and Bagel Judaism'' ( Cultural Judaism) only continues so far from one generation to the next generation. The Torah which is practiced faithfully by Orthodox Jews includes charitable obligations along with numerous other moral obligations between people and God. The basic tenets of Western civilization can be traced back to Torah/Jewish values as outlined in the Torah. Ken Spiro wrote a book titled '' World Perfect'' which addresses the influence of Torah/ Jewish values on the entire world. I wish that I was wrong about the Jewish community ,but sadly that is not the case.

[MarieNat]

02:08 PM on 04/04/2012

Well, the other guys would probably make America considerably more inhospitable for other religions besides Christianity, blurring as they do the line between church and state on a whole host of social issues.

[Rabindra Permesar]

01:15 PM on 04/04/2012

his stance on Israel is one of the few things he is strong on. the right wing government (current) is worse than our RW. keeping them from dragging us into war with Iran is top priority IMO. The influence Israel has needs to END. lets think about whats important in America for a while.

[Peacelover2012]

01:52 AM on 04/05/2012

Agreed. I'm sick of these Israel-firsters trying to run America. That needs to end.

[lookin]

04:28 PM on 04/05/2012

Have you been fitted for a burka yet?

[Tony Rochon]

12:14 PM on 04/04/2012

It will take more than the Jewish vote for Obama to win re-election
I mean , it will take more than the Jewish and African-American vote for Obama to win re-election
I mean , it will take more than the Jewish and African-American and Hispanic vote for Obama to win re-election
I mean, it will take more than the Jewish and African-American and Hispanic and Women vote for Obama to win re-election
I mean, I mean - oh well, "Hail to the Chief".

[katn1084]

04:10 PM on 04/08/2012

Don't forget the youth vote. The kids don't like Mitt.

[sweetlilthing]

10:38 AM on 04/04/2012

Got to give it to them, The Jewish are smart compassionate and they don't shove their religion down your throat!

[Hillbilly49]

09:50 AM on 04/04/2012

President Obama held first Seder in White House! How exactly does a Muslim President do that; inquiring minds want to know?

[BETGR627]

10:06 AM on 04/04/2012

Obama is awesome! He is the president of ALL the people!

[lookin]

04:31 PM on 04/05/2012

He sure is and we are certainly stuck with him - at least for a little while longer.

[patches04]

11:25 AM on 04/04/2012

Hillbilly49, your name does your justice.

[JayBee 12]

11:38 AM on 04/04/2012

Muslim president.... Agh that ole chestnut. You rednecks always make me chuckle.

[GraphicMatt]

12:16 PM on 04/04/2012

He was being sarcastic.

[arie1951]

09:15 AM on 04/04/2012

Some American Jews are under the impression that Obama is bad for Israel and the Republican nominee will be better. Don't kid yourself. Bush and his ilk only support Israel because of a mistaken view that the second coming of Christ will result in the ultimate Christianization of the world and they need Israel to be able to fulfill that prophesy. They are not true friends of Israel and only seek to save our souls (no thank you). Obama, however, not only is a friend to Israel but has Jewish friends and relatives! His motivation is for a just resolution of the Palestinian issue - there is no heavenly whispering in his ears telling him what to do. If you want a Christian country, vote Republican. If you want freedom of religion, throw them out of the House and re-elect Obama.

[katn1084]

04:12 PM on 04/08/2012

In other words, Republicans support Israel, but hate Jews.