(INN, Jewish standard).United States President Barack Obama has lost nearly half of his support among American Jews, a poll by the McLaughlin Group has shown.
The US Jews polled were asked whether they would: (a) vote to re-elect Obama, or (b) consider voting for someone else. 42% said they would vote for Obama and 46%, a plurality, preferred the second answer. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer.
In the Presidential elections of 2008, 78% of Jewish voters, or close to 8 out of 10, chose Obama. The McLaughlin poll held nearly 18 months later, in April 2010, appears to show that support down to around 4 out of 10.
The poll showed that key voter segments including Orthodox/Hassidic voters, Conservative voters, voters who have friends and family in Israel and those who have been to Israel, are all more likely to consider voting for someone other than Obama.
Among Orthodox/Hassidic voters, 69% marked 'someone else' vs. 17% who marked 're-elect.' Among Conservative-affiliated voters the proportion was 50% to 38%. Among Reform Jews, a slim majority of 52% still supported Obama while 36% indicated they would consider someone else. Among Jews with family in Israel and those who had been to Israel, about 50% said they would consider someone else, while 41%-42% supported Obama.
Fifty percent of the Jewish voters polled said they approved of the job Obama is doing handling US relations with Israel. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved. “This rating is not good for a group of voters who are 59% Democratic to only 16% Republican,” the poll's analysis noted.
A majority of 52% said they disapproved of the idea of the Obama Administration supporting a plan to recognize a Palestinian state within two years. 62% said that if given a state, “the Palestinians would continue their campaign of terror to destroy Israel.” Only 19% thought they would live peacefully with Israel.
As Obama loses support among members of the influential Jewish voter bloc, possible Republican candidate Sarah Palin seems to be doing her best to woo them to her camp. At Time Magazine’s May 4 dinner honoring the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World,’ she was sporting a US/Israel flag pin.
While Jewish support for Palin has been extremely thin, Benyamin Korn, former editor of the Jewish Exponent, recently came down firmly in Palin’s corner, joining Jewish conservative commentators such as Norman Podhoretz — one-time editor of Commentary, who has compared Palin to President Ronald Reagan — and William Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard.
To herald the launch of the national organization Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, together with the Website Jewsfor Sarah.com, Korn has circulated an op-ed entitled “Palin’s policies reflect Americans’ spirit on Israel,” in which he said the new organization was “dedicated to promoting consideration of Palin’s policy positions in the wider American Jewish community.”
“We find Palin’s positions on Israel, Iran, national security, fiscal responsibility, energy, and social policy — as well as her record on these issues as governor of Alaska and candidate for vice president of the United States — to be serious, substantive and politically mainstream,” he wrote. “Though not at present a candidate for any office, Palin’s track record in public office has been exemplary and has withstood the test of the most demanding scrutiny of investigative news media.”
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who wrote in a September 2008 column in this newspaper that “Our daughters need more women like Sarah Palin … who balance being mothers and succeeding in their careers,” said he believes the American Jewish community “must work hard to defeat Obama in 2012.”
“He betrayed the trust of the American Jewish community. He misled us all,” he said.
“Whether or not it will be Palin or some other candidate is far less important,” he said, adding that he opposes an emphasis on a particular candidate.
The US Jews polled were asked whether they would: (a) vote to re-elect Obama, or (b) consider voting for someone else. 42% said they would vote for Obama and 46%, a plurality, preferred the second answer. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer.
In the Presidential elections of 2008, 78% of Jewish voters, or close to 8 out of 10, chose Obama. The McLaughlin poll held nearly 18 months later, in April 2010, appears to show that support down to around 4 out of 10.
The poll showed that key voter segments including Orthodox/Hassidic voters, Conservative voters, voters who have friends and family in Israel and those who have been to Israel, are all more likely to consider voting for someone other than Obama.
Among Orthodox/Hassidic voters, 69% marked 'someone else' vs. 17% who marked 're-elect.' Among Conservative-affiliated voters the proportion was 50% to 38%. Among Reform Jews, a slim majority of 52% still supported Obama while 36% indicated they would consider someone else. Among Jews with family in Israel and those who had been to Israel, about 50% said they would consider someone else, while 41%-42% supported Obama.
Fifty percent of the Jewish voters polled said they approved of the job Obama is doing handling US relations with Israel. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved. “This rating is not good for a group of voters who are 59% Democratic to only 16% Republican,” the poll's analysis noted.
A majority of 52% said they disapproved of the idea of the Obama Administration supporting a plan to recognize a Palestinian state within two years. 62% said that if given a state, “the Palestinians would continue their campaign of terror to destroy Israel.” Only 19% thought they would live peacefully with Israel.
As Obama loses support among members of the influential Jewish voter bloc, possible Republican candidate Sarah Palin seems to be doing her best to woo them to her camp. At Time Magazine’s May 4 dinner honoring the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World,’ she was sporting a US/Israel flag pin.While Jewish support for Palin has been extremely thin, Benyamin Korn, former editor of the Jewish Exponent, recently came down firmly in Palin’s corner, joining Jewish conservative commentators such as Norman Podhoretz — one-time editor of Commentary, who has compared Palin to President Ronald Reagan — and William Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard.
To herald the launch of the national organization Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, together with the Website Jewsfor Sarah.com, Korn has circulated an op-ed entitled “Palin’s policies reflect Americans’ spirit on Israel,” in which he said the new organization was “dedicated to promoting consideration of Palin’s policy positions in the wider American Jewish community.”
“We find Palin’s positions on Israel, Iran, national security, fiscal responsibility, energy, and social policy — as well as her record on these issues as governor of Alaska and candidate for vice president of the United States — to be serious, substantive and politically mainstream,” he wrote. “Though not at present a candidate for any office, Palin’s track record in public office has been exemplary and has withstood the test of the most demanding scrutiny of investigative news media.”
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who wrote in a September 2008 column in this newspaper that “Our daughters need more women like Sarah Palin … who balance being mothers and succeeding in their careers,” said he believes the American Jewish community “must work hard to defeat Obama in 2012.”
“He betrayed the trust of the American Jewish community. He misled us all,” he said.
“Whether or not it will be Palin or some other candidate is far less important,” he said, adding that he opposes an emphasis on a particular candidate.
