To build upon the other Fascinating thread.

 

On the radio this morning there was an bit talking about how the president won out against the GOP congress in that Jews born in Jerusalem will no longer be allowed by US law to list their birth place as Israel on their passports. On the surface, this may seem merely administrative and not important, many Jews are taking this as another slap in the face by the administration and his party continuing to favor Arab nations over long time ally Israel. The commentators continued by interviewing Jewish leaders and several of those mentioned they are seeing more and more Jews moving away from the Democratic Party which generally gets Jewish vote in the 90+% each presidential race due to continued US policies against Israel.

 

Are these leaders correct in that Jews will for the first time start voting and donating to Republican candidates? In the 1980's many Catholics for the first time ever started voting Republican. Before then, a Republican Catholic was as uncommon as a black or Jewish Republican today. Today, the Catholic vote is getting closer and closer to 50/50. The memories of Tammany Hall, Gov Al Smith and JFK are fading away and issues are now more important. Is this decade or the next when the Jewish vote will for the first time start looking somewhat to the right?

Of course they will switch.. They are tired of the left pandering to people who want them eliminated from the face of the earth....

Maybe someone can explain why the Jewish community tends to vote D. (that is not sarcastic just a basic question)

Of course they will switch.. They are tired of the left pandering to people who want them eliminated from the face of the earth....

 

I don't know. Most Jews tend to favor very large active governments with social market tendencies so the Dem Party aligns closest with that. They will have a difficult time accepting the small government, free enterprise views of the GOP but the democratic party's cooling of the relationship the US has with Israel may be enough for some to just suck it up and vote GOP and donate to GOP candidates.

Maybe someone can explain why the Jewish community tends to vote D. (that is not sarcastic just a basic question)

 

There are a lot of reasons and some are subtle and I can't put them into words and some I can. I'll do my best with my own amateur thinking...

 

Many of the big talking points on the Republican agenda have to do with Christian values. They can call them Judeo-Christian all they want, but most of the Jewish folks I've ever heard speak on it don't see it that way. They find the idea of a "secular war on Christianity" to be untrue and they don't accept the notion that modern Christians are discriminated against in any way in America.

 

As a group, they aren't as massively pro-Israel as the Republican party wants. I remember seeing a poll not long ago that less than half of all Jewish Americans believe that Israel was a place given to the Jews by God. Something like 90 percent of Evangelical Christians believe that it is.

 

Their large presence in bigger urban areas generally means that they feel the direct benefit of government programs and services directly which tends to be a big reason voters skew Democratic in cities.

 

The average Jewish person in the United States just tends to be a lot more liberal in their beliefs than the Republicans would like in order to court them.

Maybe someone can explain why the Jewish community tends to vote D. (that is not sarcastic just a basic question)

 

I asked that same question once, this was the answer. Most Jews in the US came from countries where monarchies/aristocracies ruled (sometimes harshly) and the opponents to those monarchies and aristocracies were socialist/Marxist groups that favored large, centralized governments that were very active in people's affairs and the national economy. Most Jews did not fare well with the monarchies and aristocracies so they naturally allied with the socialist/Marxist groups and when many Jews came to the US, they still had those political views and those views were basically inherited from generation to generation causing them to align with the democratic party. Many of the earliest supporters of communism/Marxism were Jews and in the US the Socialist Party USA used to have a large amount of Jewish membership, now I believe agnostics/atheists have outnumbered the Jewish members.

Many of the big talking points on the Republican agenda have to do with Christian values. They can call them Judeo-Christian all they want, but most of the Jewish folks I've ever heard speak on it don't see it that way. They find the idea of a "secular war on Christianity" to be untrue and they don't accept the notion that modern Christians are discriminated against in any way in America.

 

The Pro Christian Values stuff in the GOP came about during the late 80's early 90's and continues today. Jews have been loyal to the democratic party long before that so I don't think that can really be a cause for Jews long history of favoring the Democratic party

 

As a group, they aren't as massively pro-Israel as the Republican party wants. I remember seeing a poll not long ago that less than half of all Jewish Americans believe that Israel was a place given to the Jews by God. Something like 90 percent of Evangelical Christians believe that it is..

 

They used to be but that has waned as you mention.

 

Their large presence in bigger urban areas generally means that they feel the direct benefit of government programs and services directly which tends to be a big reason voters skew Democratic in cities.

 

Somewhat related to my earlier post.

There's always been some fluctuation in presidential elections. Romney, for instance, did 8 points better than McCain vs. Obama, yet only got 30 percent of the Jewish vote. To answer Bert's question in post 1, no, I don't see a major shift. Hit the link at bottom and look at the numbers. I think Hillary will do very well in '16 with Jewish voters, probably mid 70s.

 

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html

There's always been some fluctuation in presidential elections. Romney, for instance, did 8 points better than McCain vs. Obama, yet only got 30 percent of the Jewish vote. To answer Bert's question in post 1, no, I don't see a major shift. Hit the link at bottom and look at the numbers. I think Hillary will do very well in '16 with Jewish voters, probably mid 70s.

 

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html

 

I think Jews will tend to favor Northern Republicans (Romney) moreso than Southern or Southwestern Republicans (McCain). So if the nomination goes to Christie, Palat.....???? (whatever the former NY Governor's name is), they may get a respectable Jewish vote. If it goes to Cruz or Paul, in precincts, you may be able to count the Jewish votes on one hand.

There are a lot of reasons and some are subtle and I can't put them into words and some I can. I'll do my best with my own amateur thinking...

 

Many of the big talking points on the Republican agenda have to do with Christian values. They can call them Judeo-Christian all they want, but most of the Jewish folks I've ever heard speak on it don't see it that way. They find the idea of a "secular war on Christianity" to be untrue and they don't accept the notion that modern Christians are discriminated against in any way in America.

 

As a group, they aren't as massively pro-Israel as the Republican party wants. I remember seeing a poll not long ago that less than half of all Jewish Americans believe that Israel was a place given to the Jews by God. Something like 90 percent of Evangelical Christians believe that it is.

 

Their large presence in bigger urban areas generally means that they feel the direct benefit of government programs and services directly which tends to be a big reason voters skew Democratic in cities.

 

The average Jewish person in the United States just tends to be a lot more liberal in their beliefs than the Republicans would like in order to court them.

 

Thanks for taking the time on that reply. I guess I always assumed Jews/Christians had more things in common than they do differences, and so they would be more likely to align. But maybe the Jewish folks feel like the Christians haven't really had it that tough in the West, especially in comparison to millions lost to the Nazis.

 

The other thing I figured was a stronger allegiance or feeling of alliance with what happens in Israel. If you look at, say Cuban-Americans, there are very strong feelings about what happens there. I have to admit I'm a bit surprised American Jews don't live and die a bit more with what happens to Israel.

 

Thanks again for the explanation.