Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama met with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem in July. Both campaigns are targeting Jewish voters, a group that turns out in high numbers. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Obama struggles to attract wavering Jewish voters
False rumors have tempered enthusiasm from this slice of the Democratic base.
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer/ October 8, 2008 edition
Reporter Jane Lampman talks about comedian Sarah Silverman’s efforts to sway Jewish voters, who are unusually lukewarm about Sen. Barack Obama, toward the Democratic nominee this year.
Few groups in America vote more heavily Democratic than the Jewish community. But Sen. Barack Obama and his backers are scrambling to hold on to that traditionally lopsided support – particularly in swing states such as Florida, Nevada, and Ohio, where the 2008 race remains a tossup and every vote counts.
While Republican nominee John McCain’s strong pro-Israel and antiterrorism stances are widely known, many Jews feel uneasy about his opponent. A campaign of rumors about Senator Obama has helped spur doubts.
In a national survey released Sept. 25 by the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Democratic nominee had the support of 57 percent of Jewish adults, 12 percent less than Sen. John Kerry at the same time in the 2004 campaign. Senator McCain had 30 percent, with 13 percent still undecided.
“What is striking is the number of people who say they are undecided,” says Kenneth Wald, professor of political science at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “That suggests a real softness in the level of support for Obama among some Jews.”
Strategists on both sides see several states in which Jewish votes could be key: Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and perhaps Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
In Florida, both campaigns are targeting the Jewish community, which is 4 percent of the population but turns out at the polls at a higher rate than other voters. The Obama campaign recently launched six Jewish community leadership committees to send nearly a thousand Jewish leaders throughout the state to visit senior complexes and community centers.
Younger supporters are joining in what is billed as “the Great Schlep” – heading off during Columbus Day weekend Oct. 10-13 to visit grandparents in Florida and other swing states to persuade them to vote for Obama.
Comedian Sarah Silverman of Comedy Central fame helped launch the Great Schlep with an irreverent Internet video in which she proclaims, “If Barack Obama doesn’t win this election, I am going to blame the Jews.” The video “has been seen by millions and more than 13,000 people have signed up on our Facebook group,” says Mik Moore, codirector of Jewsvote.org, a new political action committee that initiated the project. More than 100 people have committed to travel this weekend.
One of those is Emily Cahn, a sophomore at George Washington University in Washington, who plans to sit down with her grandparents in Boca Raton, Fla. “I originally voted for Hillary [Rodham Clinton], but I’m now an ardent supporter [of Obama],” she says. “He’s very competent and has the mind-set to take our country in the right direction.”
The challenge Mr. Obama faces in Jewish enclaves such as south Florida stems partly from the fact that voters just don’t know him, which has made it easier for the rumors to stick, observers say.
“There isn’t the familiarity and long record in public life,” so there is anxiety, Dr. Wald says. Many Jews worry he might harbor anti-Semitic sentiments they’ve heard from some other African-American leaders, and he “has a middle name that sounds Muslim, though he is a Christian.”
Falsehoods, such as Obama being a secret Muslim or having ties to Hamas, have spread so widely that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg – who is Jewish and an independent – publicly denounced the smears during a June visit to Florida.
Last month, a phone poll sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) stirred anger among Jews in battleground states. The poll included questions asking voters’ response to several negative statements about Obama. A writer for the New Republic who lives in Michigan and got the call described it as “ugly.”
Matthew Brooks, the RJC executive director, insists the characterization of the poll as negative is not accurate: “Our survey was like any other that does test messages. We tested messages to understand why Obama has problems among Jewish voters,” he says.
The Democrat’s problems, Mr. Brooks adds, relate to “his positions on Iran,… his flip-flopping on the issue of Jerusalem … his circle of advisers.”
Brooks looks for the Jewish “undecided” to move more than usual into the Republican camp. Such support has inched up in each presidential election, from 11 percent in 1992 to 19 percent in 2000 and 24 percent in 2004.
McCain is doing better than previous Republican nominees because he’s been seen as a moderate, says Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, in Washington. But Mr. Forman believes the vice presidential selection is already changing that. “The sheen of being moderate is going to be dissipated by the Sarah Palin pick,” he predicts.
Comments
2. KIMBER | 10.08.08
Anybody who’s wavering needs to check out Palin’s connections - this from Israel News:
“At Palin Church, Jews For Jesus Head Says Terrorism vs Israel Is God`s Punishment” http://www.israelenews.com/view.asp?ID=3026
3. George Robertson | 10.08.08
In 2004, Howard Dean’s campaign got torpedoed, in part, because he made a statement in the primary debates that the US should be more “even-handed” in its dealings between the Israelis and the Arab world. When I watched him say that, I agreed, but then I saw Joe Liebermann look like he was practically going to get up out of his chair and physically attack Dean right then and there. I still don’t understand why so many Jewish Americans put Israel’s interests ahead of those of the United States. If they really feel that way, they should emigrate to Israel and not sit on the fence by being dual citizens as so many are. Yes, I support Israel’s right to exist within their 1967 boundaries, but the people who have supported building settlements on the West Bank really need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if it is worth inflaming Arab public opinion and strongly increasing the likelihood of another terrorist attack agains the US just so that a group of people who are currently under no danger or economic hardship can achieve every aspect of a long-held dream. When someone else’s political and/or religious agenda endangers lives and poisons our relations with 1/10 of the world’s population, one has to ask if an American person who holds such views is in fact a loyal American citizen, or a traitor to the country of their birth. Jewish Americans need to ask themselves this question and, sadly, I don’t see many who do. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
4. bette s | 10.08.08
I’m Jewish and will vote for McCain, but my allegiance has always been to the more Republican view of personal resonsibility, smaller government and help for those who can not physically help himself. Jews seem not to understand that the Democratic Party is driving this country toward socialism, have been the cause of the financial meltdown (encouraging mortgages for the unqualified through Fannie & Freddie)and, as well, promote jealousy, class envy and resentment; taxing the rich (the rich, the rich, the rich) and transferring it to the middle class. I’m middle class and never wanted anything from the rich. I always knew that I would have to work for what I want. I could write on this subject ad infinitem, but I’ll stop now.
5. leah | 10.08.08
Those aren’t rumors. Rashid Khalidi, current occupant of the Edward Said chair at Columbia University is a virulent anti-Zionist, anti-semite. Samantha Power, a key foreign policy consultant, considers Israel an “apartheid” state, and sees the necessity of a future invasion of Israel as a possibility to prevent “Palestinian genocide”. Jimmy Carter’s previous Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzinski, has a long history of animosity towards the Jewish state. Maybe a little homework on your part would improve your reporting. Because there’s no sign of any kind of incisive or concrete background in this paper.
Leah Lipschultz
Woodland Hills, CA
6. allen | 10.09.08
I think we do well not to take a chance on Obama, who has demonstrated his lack of support for Israel. I can’t take that chance.
7. Daryl Northrop | 10.09.08
The right wing in the country often tries to paint anyone on the left as anti-semitic, or “secretly something other than what they say they are.” Why? Because they can’t win the argument based on values and policies. So, they have no other recourse than fear and rumor-mongering.
If you notice, no one on the left is saying this non-sense about McCain. If you want to learn who Barack Obama is, read his books, or listen to his hours of speeches, and then decide for yourself. Don’t vote against him because he has ” a funny sounding name ” or because some right-wing blowhard made a statement that absolutely has no basis in reality.
Look at his principles, his values, and his statements, and then decide for yourself.
8. Joseph | 10.09.08
American Jews need to think whether they want to continue to participate in the Palestinian Holocaust or not. Just because Jews suffered in Europe in WWII at the hands of Europeans does not give the justification to slaughter innocent Palestinian men, women, and children, of many different faiths, Muslims, Christians and Jews, who had nothing to do with this crime. Zionist embarked on killing and stealing the homes and property of these innocent people in Palestine in the name of religion. The Europeans and Americans cannot baptize themselves with Palestinian blood in order to wash their Jewish sins.
9. Ron | 10.09.08
I am Jewish and my whole family voted for Barack Obama. Sarah Palin’s speeches are beginning to sound a lot like 1939 speeches and McCain has an eerie resemblance to that Italian guy.
10. Hal Brown | 10.09.08
I grew up in Westchester County in the 1950s as part of a Jewish community where we all read books, magazines and newspapers as television wasn’t yet the primary source of news. I second Daryl Northrop (above no. 7), and I suggest that Jews my age and older who probably grew up the way I did but let the old good habits fade away READ Obama’s books! Read and listen to what he has to say and look at the facts before you believe the scare tactics coming from the McCain campaign.
Israel not only needs a president of the United States who will assure that our alliance remains strong, they need a president of the United States that will keep America strong. McCain loudly and proudly rattles the saber, but Obama has the level-headed disposition and the vision to remake us to be the world leader we should be in the changing 21st century world.
Hal Brown
Columnist
http://www.capitolhillblue.com
12. Myra | 10.09.08
I’m writing this on Yom Kippur, when I should be in synagogue but haven’t been feeling well! I have always had trouble reading about the so-called “Jewish vote,” knowing that th eJews in question don’t represent me. I’m 1000% in the Obama camp and am terrified of the prospect of the election (an upset, at this point) of McCain-Palin.
For those commentors on this list who worry about Obama’s lack of empathy with the Jewish community, perhaps they should be aware that Obama’s principal strategies, David Axelrod, is Jewish, and that he was formerly allied with Hillary Clinton before he took on Obama’s campaign.
Here is a man of judgment, integriy and deep intelligence, who wisely chose as his ruuning mate a man superbly qualified to take on the presidency in an emergency. By contrast, McCain has been flitting around like a cat running after its tail, and chose as his running mate a person who is superbly unqualified, and whose strongest attribute at this time appears to be her ability to sling whatever mud comes her way via McCain’s advisers. I’m pretty sure she has no idea of the history of the Weathermen (she’s only slightly younger than Obama, who was 8 years old at the time) and is astoundingly clueless about the most basic tenents of the US Constitution.
This year I have made more donations than ever in my lifetime to support Obama’s election, and I’m proud to see that he is surging ahead even in swing states that were once expected to easily go for McCain.
13. Paul G. Overend | 10.09.08
Ever since the Great Society the Dems have tried to get the desperate poor to be tied to them. Smart move by LBJ who had after all initially opposed desegregation. They never actually improve the lot of the poor though. They just make them more dependant on government handouts. In effect tying them to the party that promises to keep giving it to them. Bread and circuses in effect.
Not to single out the Dems for doing this though. I am an American who has lived in Europe much of my life and I have seen it prevail there too. To the extent that once in place it is almost impossible to undo it and to cut such spending as a whole segment of the populace are incapable of caring for themselves. They lack self-reliance and responsibility because it has become the government’s job to look after them.
That is ultimately how socialism destroys. This is what four years of Obama and his ridiculous mantra of “Change” will do.
14. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein | 10.09.08
As an Israeli, I’m praying HARD Obama wins. The Economist global vote at economist.com/vote2008 (click on Israel), shows Obama’s winning 73% of the Israeli vote, of those voting online - and it’s a conservative journal!
Palin is really scary - hate speech, the Rapture (which calls for Jews to renounce Judaism and become Christian during all that nuclear holocaust they’re gunning for), clueless on ALL policy, totally green (except on green issues) - and McCain’s looking really ill and old in the debates, so there’s a real danger she might end up President. Which makes her appointment SO insulting - a hockeymum/beauty contestant… Whereas Obama, the ex-law professor and community organiser is obviously (and I’ve read his book) a great soul, a deep thinker, someone of principle and moral stature — even the prayer he left in the Western Wall (which shouldn’t have been stolen…) shows what a man of real faith and humility he is. And a peacemaker. Oh please America, give peace a chance.
We in Israel don’t need more wars and warmongering. We need a sustainable future. With Obama, there’s a good solid chance. Palin/McCain? No way. They’re Bush and Cheney all over again, already… Just listen to them.
15. Dov | 10.09.08
I am a Jew and I will vote Obama. The best way US can support Israel is to be strong economically first. If US is weak, as we are now, Israel is in jeopardy, as we might not be able to support it enough in case of a major conflict in the Middle East. Obama is highly intelligent, a must in a President (we all know what happens otherwise, just watch current news), well educated, great orator, and progressive. This country can only be great if it reaps the benefits of a truly free society, and that is only possible with a progessive president.
16. Dov | 10.09.08
I am a Jew and I will vote Obama. The best way US can support Israel is to be strong economically first. If US is weak, as we are now, Israel is in jeopardy, as we might not be able to support it enough in case of a major conflict in the Middle East. Obama is highly intelligent, a must in a President (we all know what happens otherwise, just watch current news), well educated, great orator, and progressive. This country can only be great if it reaps the benefits of a truly free society, and that is only possible with a progressive president.
17. walterrhett, Charleston, sC | 10.09.08
Fear should not be the priority driving a vote! Support the candidate who has the intelligence tostrengthened the American economy, and the integrity to honor American commitments to Isreal: Barack Obama.
18. Alanki35 | 10.09.08
I have reservations about Obama concerning Israel - as it was pointed out, his advisors are not reassuring! However, what I have seen of McCain makes me very sad - where is the McCain we used to know. I am 73 but McCain looks and behaves like an old man and Palin!!!!!! Unbelievable! And finally, no way do I want to see another Roberts or Thomas on the Supreme Court or on the very important lower courts!
19. Louise Derzansky | 10.09.08
What do 2 of the posters responding to this article - George Robertson (an apparent Obama supporter) and Leah Lipschultz (an apparent McCain supporter) - have in common? Giving in to hysteria.
George, labeling American Jews who happen to disagree with your views on Israel as “traitors” sounds un-American to me. There is a lot more complexity to the Israel-Palestinian situation than you seem to understand.
Leah, I have heard Rashid Khalidi (who is not a very strong Obama supporter anyway) speak on several occasions - including at my synagogue. He is neither a virulent anti-Zionist nor an anti-semite. He is a reasonable, peace-loving, Palestinian-American who grew up in this country and has tried to aid the mid-east peace process. I don’t have to agree with all of his views on Israel to respect him and to understand that he is trying to end the suffering of Palestinians and turn them away from terrorism. Perhaps you need to find more balanced sources when you do your homework.
If we all tried to follow the voice of reasonable discourse and intellect that Barack Obama represents, I think we would help our country overcome its many daunting problems.
20. GrinninBarrett | 10.09.08
I am not an American and I’m shocked by what I’m reading here. So many of you appear to be more concerned with Israel than America. In my country this is called treason. Who would you defend if a war happened between the two countries????
Can someone explain why other Americans would NOT be anti-Semites. Is it really true what they say about education in America? Seems so.
21. Polo Ace | 10.09.08
I agree with this notion strong USA is first priority. It will be good for Americans and its allies. We need to build economy on war footing not wars. We need to give quality education and affordable and good healthcare to our aging citizens. I feel trigger happy McCain- Plain are good for Moose & Wolf hunting but not for these defining moments we are passing through.
22. Polo Ace | 10.09.08
I agree with this notion strong USA is first priority. It will be good for Americans and its allies. We need to build economy on war footing not wars. We need to give quality education and affordable and good healthcare to our aging citizens. I feel trigger happy McCain- Plain are good for Moose & Wolf hunting but not for these defining moments we are passing through.
Normal, IL
23. Armond Aserinsky | 10.09.08
I am a Jew and a staunch defender of Israel. I’m over 65. I’m also a supporter of Barack Obama.
For those who need more credentials, I have an earned Ph.D. in the social sciences, and I make my living as a small businessman. I am married and have one adult child and two terrific grandchildren.
What I don’t have is an answer for Jews who don’t “trust” Senator Obama. Frankly, they mystify me. The best I can do is guess, but unfortunately what I come up with isn’t very flattering to the voters in question.
There seem to be two likely culprits at work in the Jewish anti-Obama voter. First, let’s consider racial prejudice. Mr. Obama is perhaps referred to in certain circles as a “schvartza” (readers will please excuse me), a Yiddish term roughly equivalent to the “N-word”. Let’s be honest about this. Jews, who as a group have been subjected to an extraordinary amount of persecution, are just as good as everyone else at finding a minority group to pick on.
Secondly, we’ve got to give credit to conservatives for convincing a lot of Jews that Democrats are weak in their support of Israel, due perhaps, so the mythology goes, to a generally naive worldview among liberals. This thought immediately neutralizes all reassurances about Israel coming from liberal candidates. As evidence of the treachery of Democratic presidents, wary supporters of Israel point to Jimmy Carter, whose recent statements about that beleaguered nation have felt like a punch in the gut to many Jews, this one included. But Mr. Carter represents himself, not the Democratic party.
Moreover, anti-semitism is hardly the province of the American Left. In truth, it has been those on the Right who are most often associated with anti-Jewish sentiments. In fact, the Republican party is heavily influenced by religious movements which seek the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. Their strong, often militant, support for the most expanded version of the State of Israel is embraced by some Jews–those who seem not to care that said support is accompanied by plans for an apocalyptic war that will use Israel as a holy battleground between Good (saved Christians) and Evil (other people). In this scenario, Jews who haven’t been converted (in the right way, of course) will get to join the dead bad guys in the everlasting barbecue pit.
It is time for my ethnic brothers and sisters to put aside prejudice and paranoia and consider voting for the best candidate we’ve fielded for U.S. President in many decades.
Shalom.
26. GrinninBarrett | 10.11.08
Mr. Armond Arseinsky:
Anything coming from a rational person like Jimmy Carter is bound to feel like a kick in the gut to such as yourself. Do you really have a Phd? Educated in America then?
27. Abdul | 10.11.08
I am a Muslim and I wish Muslim Americans could be as open in their discussions as their fellow Jewish Americans. I have always voted Republican because of my conservative views but, our great nation’s economy and future needs a serious CHANGE. I see this Change in Barack Obama.
28. Anwar | 10.12.08
I happen to be an athiest and I am voting for Barak. You know, Jews have always been known for going about things in intellectual ways and not being affected by fear mongering. If Jews are in fact the way history tells than they will certainly vote for Obama in November. I do have faith in that!
31. John D. | 10.13.08
Anyone who cares about both Israel and the USA needs to think about the wider implications of energy policies. McCain wants to go nuclear in a big way, calling for the construction of 100 new nuclear plants in the USA in the next few years. But if the USA goes with nuclear power, this makes it hard to argue that other countries (such as Iran) cannot also pursue nuclear power (which can easily be turned to military uses down the road) - those countries will always claim that they need nuclear power for “peaceful” purposes, and will keep pointing to the USA as an example.
Better to go with alternative energy, especially solar power, which both the USA and the Middle East have in abundance. (Solar power is also great for Israel, as it can use the Negev desert.) The McCain policy of going nuclear will create huge problems for Israel (and the USA) down the road, if the Middle East follows the US lead.
If you don’t want Iran and other countries in the region to have nuclear weapons, and if you don’t want the terrorists to acquire nuclear materials or maybe even nuclear weapons, then think solar, not nuclear. You might think that McCain, who presents himself as an expert on national security and who represents the sunniest state in the union, would be able to connect the dots on this, but no such luck.
Obama, in contrast, is tuned in to both alternative energy and nonproliferation, and is hence the better choice on a critical issue of security for both the USA and Israel.
32. Orly | 10.13.08
Obama has too many ties to Islam for my taste. Even stranger is his ties to the “Black Muslims” and their leader Louis Farakhan. Farakhan, who was the only person ever to be given an honorary award by Jeremiah Wright, is an American terrorist. Reverend Wright had this to say about Farakhan; “His integrity and honesty have secured him a place in history as one of the nation’s most powerful critics.” Farakhan the murderer. Farakhan the racist. Farakhan calls White People inhuman. He calls Judaism a gutter religion. He calls the Pope the anti-Christ. Obama cannot be trusted when he is surrounded by anti-semites and belonged to a church that the pastor is also an anti-semite. I don’t want Louis Farakhan as the back room adviser to the President of the United States of America.
I’m Jewish, I have Jewish pride, I love Israel and my family who still lives in Israel. I am voting McCain/Palin 2008
See this video, scary!!! It was all over FOX news a few days ago.
33. Megan46 | 10.18.08
I feel sorry for you. if you think that Sen Obama is a muslim and palls around with Farrakhan, Ayers and other so call terrorist then your views are as sick and perverse as Fox’s (percale sheets) Network is.
You having pride in who you are has nothing to do with your thinly veiled racist towards Sen. Obama and the Black community at large. I know many Jewish people who are voting for Sen. Obama and they are smart enough to know what is truly a terrorist and thoses who flame the fires of intolerance
by thoses who should know better. I would think not that McCain/Palin and there base are interested in you!
34. Jane Bennett | 10.31.08
It’s really scary - the number of Jews in my community who have bought into the rumors and outright lies about Obama’s position on Israel. Rather than doing the research on his actual voting record, these people, who are, truth be told, more concerned about their own income and probably racist find it easier to say he’s bad for Israel. I’ve never worshipped Obama , but I have done my pre-election research and can’t find any truth to the rumors and lies. Jews for Obama is a great group for those who are honestly interested in knowing about Obama and his opinions and voting record regarding Israel.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. jerry rubin | 10.08.08
I am a Jew in Wisconsin and I already voted for Obama. I would like others to consider the following issue in their thoughts about how America became such a great country.
I am not a socialist by any means - I owned my own (computer software and architectural firm), but there are key fundamentals that has made this country great.
The first president who set us on a path of greatness in the modern age was TR (Theodore Roosevelt) who worked hard against cronyism and trust busting. He also had during his time unions on the rise, which he did not oppose. Note: TR was a Republican.
The second president who set us on a path of greatness in the modern age was FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) his cousin. He came into the presidency because the Republicans went against TR’s agenda and brought this country to the brink by given the cronyism back to an upper class and create a trickle down economic plan. FDR changed that with various work programs to bring back the middle class.
Neither president spoken of were socialists, they both believed in a free market, but they both believed that a strong middle class was required for the country to prosper.
Otherwise, we become a European aristocracy of the haves and have nots. That is the main difference that is surely underreported in the media.