American Jews
And Politics
LEONARD FEIN
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Now and then we encounter illu-
minating data on just where
America's Jews locate themselves
politically as compared to the rest
ofAmerica. A recent survey by the 10
Israel Policy Forum, devoted pri-
marily to our attitudes towards
Israel and the peace process, asks
one question that invites com-
parison with the results of a still
more recent poll by the New York
Times and "CBS News."
Specifically, the IPF poll, based
on an unusually large sample of
American Jews, asks people their
political affiliation, and offers them al
six choices: strong Democrat,
weak Democrat, Independent,
weak Republican, strong Repub-
lican, and "don't know." The
Times/CBS poll is not quite as dis-
criminating, providing just three
options: Democrat, Independent,
Republican.
But both offer information re-
garding sub-groups within their
surveyed populations.
The results? All in all, 59 per-
cent ofJews are Democrati (43
percent "strong," 13 percent
"weak"), compared to 37 percent
of the general population; 14 per-
cent ofJews are Republicans, corn-
pared to 32 percent of the general
population; 22 percent of the Jews
are Independents, compared to 28
percent of the general population.
These figures confirm the gener-
ally accepted view that Jews,
though affected by general trends
in society (as the rest of America
moves rightward or leftward, we
follow), remain roughly 20 percent
more liberal than the rest of the
country.
And, not surprisingly, we have
our own gender gap: 37 percent of
Jewish males are strong Democ-
rats, rising to 51 percent of Jew-
ish women, a 14 point difference;
in the,nation at large, the gender
gap is 13 points. The gender gap
on the Republican dimension is
six points among the Jews, and
eight points among the general
population.
These numbers mirror the ac-
tual voting behavior of Jews, al-
though they fail to capture the
generally Democratic bias of those
who describe themselves as Inde-
pendents. By and large, the Re-
publicans can count on a 15
percent or so base Jewish vote, on
occasion rising to as much as 25
percent— that is, picking up half
the Independents. But more com-
monly, virtually all the Indepen-
dents vote, at least in presidential
elections, for the Democrat.
Across denominational lines.
65 percent of Reform Jews, 57 per-
cent of Conservative Jews, and 50
percent of Orthodox Jews are De-
mocrats.
l
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