data from the tumultuous
months before last year's
war, when the anti-war
movement — and at least
one member of Congress
— were pinning the blame
for the conflict on the
Jews, even though the
community was generally less enthusiastic about the
military option than the overall population.
Those numbers have big political implications.
Republicans have argued for months that the adminis-
tration's anti-terror efforts will be a big selling point in
their effort to woo Jewish voters next November, but
the AJCommittee survey tells a different story.
• Party Identification. A slim majority of Jews (51
percent) continue to identify as'Democrats, down from
peaks of the 1960s and 1970s, but far more than the
16 percent who now rally to the GOP banner.
The GOP number actually went up significantly
after President Bush's election in 2000 —
from 9 to 18 percent = but declined slightly
between 2002 and 2003.
The survey also shows that about 31 per-
cent of Jewish voters consider themselves
independents, a number that has held steady
in recent years.
That swing sector represents a bloc of opportunity
for the GOP; it's the reason why some Republican can-
didates, including former New York Mayor Rudolf
Giuliani and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, have
made Jews part of their winning coalitions.
But the Democrats continue to enjoy a big edge in
party identification. And the next question suggests
GOP gains may not be as great as advertised.
• Liberal vs. Conservative. In 2003, about 44 per-
cent of Jews identified themselves as liberal, 27 percent
Counting Votes
AJCommittee poll sheds light on Jewish voter preferences.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
ly
he 2003 American Jewish Committee sur-
vey of Jewish public opinion, released this
week, was hard on the propagators of politi-
cal conventional wisdom.
The survey contained mixed news for Jewish
Democrats and Republicans, although both sides spun
the results as an unqualified partisan triumph.
And it demolished the widespread belief on the
political fringes that Jews are the most enthusiastic
backers of the war in Iraq — although the facts are
unlikely to convince those who believe in
Jewish cabals.
The respected study pointed to a commu-
nity in political flux, but still holding on to
its traditional liberal and Democratic moor-
ings, still stubbornly centrist. Some high-
lights:
• The War In Iraq. Even though he toppled one of
Israel's most dangerous foes, a majority of American
Jews — 54 percent — disapprove of President George
W. Bush's handling of the war. A similar proportion are
unhappy with his overall performance in the war on
terrorism.
That stands in contrast to recent polls showing that
about 65 percent of the American people support his
actions on both fronts. That's consistent with polling
NE WS
ANAL' YSIS
as conservative and the remaining third as "moderate,
middle of the road."
Jewish neo-cons may be in the news, but they are
out of step with a majority of Jews. Only 2 percent
describe themselves as "very conservative," 4 percent as
"very liberal."
• Howard Dean vs. George Bush. The conventional
wisdom suggests that Dr. Dean, the former Vermont
governor and now frontrunner for this year's
Democratic presidential nomination, will have major
problems in the Jewish community because of his con-
troversial statements about the need for a more "bal-
anced" U.S. Mideast policy.
But the AJCommittee survey suggests Dean would
do about the same as the other major Democratic can-
didates — beating Bush by a 2-1 margin.
There's one exception: Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-
Conn., the only Jew in the race, would win by 3-1.
Bush would get about 31 percent in all the major
matchups — a big improvement over his 2000 per-
formance of 19 percent, but not up to the Ronald
Reagan-era numbers. Still, that shift represents another
opportunity for the GOP.
• Faith-Based Politics. Despite active support by the
Orthodox community, Jews remain strongly opposed
to the use of "taxpayer funds for social service programs
run by religious institutions such as churches or syna-
gogues." About 73 percent of the Jews surveyed oppose
the idea of "charitable choice," with only 25 percent
supporting it. The same proportion opposes govern-
ment aid to parochial schools. In fact, Jewish opposi-
tion to religious school funding seems to be growing,
although not by much.
• Anti-Semitism. The striking rise of anti-Semitism
around the world is causing American Jews to worry
about their own futures. In this year's survey, 37 per-
cent considered anti-Semitism in this country a "very
ADL Forms Leadership Institute
7
he Michigan Region office
of the Anti-Defamation
League has established the
Arthur M. Sills
Leadership Institute, a devel-
opment program named in
honor of the late Arthur M.
Sills. Mr. Sill's wife, Rohoda,
and their children — Susan,
Claudia and Douglas —
funded the program.
The Institute's purpose is
to introduce a group of quali-
fied candidates to the ADL as
an organization
committed to Sills
b
fighting anti-Semitism, racism and big-
otry.
This is a national ADL program
originally established by Los Angeles-
based sports agent Leigh Steinberg.
Local Steinberg Leadership Institute
graduates include ADL executive mem-
bers Jonathan Aaron of Bloomfield
Hills, Ian Blumenstein of Bloomfield
Hills, H. Adam Cohen of Huntington
Woods, David Kreis of Oak Park, I.
1/16
2004
24
Matthew Miller of Birmingham, Marcy
Citron of Oak Park and Henry
Wineman III of Birmingham.
The Sills family will under-
write the ADL's Shana Glass
National Leadership
Conference in May.
The Arthur M. Sills
Leadership Institute is
chaired by Henry Wineman
III and David Kreis. Co-
Chairs are Jeffrey Kaftan of
Birmingham and Staci Bloc
of Hazel Park.
Participants for 2003-2004
are Mark Bernstein of Ann
Arbor, Danette Duron-Wilner of
Wixom, Matt Fenster of Farmington
Hills, Adam Glass of West Bloomfield,
Dan McColl of Farmington Hills,
Craig Menuck of Birmingham,
Andrew Moss of Birmingham, Marc
Rosenblatt of Huntington Woods,
Michael Weinstein of Birmingham and
Chad Zalmer of Bloomfield Hills.
Forty "Mitzvah Maven" members of Congregation Beth Ahm met at Yad Ezra
in Berkley last month to package toiletry and first-aid kits and Chanukah
items for the kosher food pantry's clients. Among the Beth Ahm volunteers are
brothers Michael and Stephen Daniels of Farmington Hills, along with their
mother, Ruth. The twins are performing community service before their upcom-
ing b'nai mitvah at Beth Ahm.