Why are American Jews so Democratic if Republicans are so pro-Israel?

[All Along The Watchtower]

[darklordoftech]

1. The American government doesn't effect Israel much.

2. The GOP exagerrates the difference between themselves and the Democrats on Israel.

[Boobs]

jews care about other issues?

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

Because very few American Jews vote solely based on Israel policy, and most Democrats are pro-Israel as well.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Because very few American Jews vote solely based on Israel policy, and most Democrats are pro-Israel as well.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Because they are American not Israeli.

[Zaybay]

Well, there are multiple reasons.

1. Geography- Where you live has a lot to do with how you vote. Most Rurals vote Republican, and most Cities vote D. A core constituency of Cities happens to be Jews. From Miami to New York, Newark to the Bay Area, most Jews live in highly urban areas, with very few living in Rural or even Suburban areas.


2. History- The Democratic Party has a long history with Jews. For the past 100 years, from 1916-2016, Jews have voted for the Democrats in every election except in 1920(This was due in large part to the Socialist candidate Debs). Even during the sweeps of 1972, and 1984, the Jewish vote held firm for the Democrats. This long history has both bolstered D strength with the community, and also kept many Conservative Jews in the D fold(see: Selma).

(Graph courtesy of Comrade Funk)

3. Israel- As many others have noted on this thread, Israel is not an all-consuming issue for Jews. In fact, in a recent survey, Jews were actually one of the most sympathetic groups towards the Palestinian cause. The idea that Jews are single-issue voters on Israel has as much proof as the idea that Hispanics only vote based on Immigration issues, or Muslims only vote for candidates that uphold the Saudi alliance.


There are more reasons as well, such as the fact that many Jews come from more Working Class backgrounds, or that the Labor movement in the US was heavily supported by Jews fighting for better conditions, but these 3 are kinda the main ones.

[darklordoftech]

A history of being discrimated against tends to make people vote against candidates who preach religion, militarism, war, and patriotism.

[The Mikado]

How did literally everyone in this thread miss that OP was trolling?

[Sestak]

How did literally everyone in this thread miss that OP was trolling?

Because, sadly, many posters on this forum would unironically ask something like this.

[Senator Incitatus]

Zaybay, where is that data from? If Reagan really did worse with Jewish voters in 1984 than 1980, it does indicate that foreign policy re: Israel is a huge vote-mover. But I'm skeptical.

[Zaybay]

Zaybay, where is that data from? If Reagan really did worse with Jewish voters in 1984 than 1980, it does indicate that foreign policy re: Israel is a huge vote-mover. But I'm skeptical.

Yeah, Comerade Funk made it by going back into the election files. Its a pretty great graph.

Anyway, while you could make such a connection, there really isnt any correlation elsewhere. Its much more of a coincidence than anything else(it seems a lot of Jewish voters in 1980 went to Anderson who would normally vote Democratic, so just like with Debs and Wallace, Im not sure if using such numbers when a 3rd party did rather well is analytically wise).

[Indy Texas]

In America, Jews disproportionately tend to...

(1) Have college degrees
(2) Live in urban areas

Those things, particularly when taken together, make it extremely unlikely that someone is going to vote Republican.

If Republicans really want to win a larger share of the Jewish vote, they should start a campaign to discourage young Jews from attending college and convince them to go live in places like Huntington, WV and Cape Girardeau, MO. Over time, they will "assimilate" to their new surroundings (of course, they will also probably stop identifying as Jewish).

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Jews#Significant_Jewish_population_centers


The Top 8 in this List are all overwhelmingly Democratic cities

[America Needs R'hllor]

jews care about other issues?

Also, considering most American Jews are Reform\Conservative and Israel is literally repeatedly spitting in their faces, so they probably increasingly care less about this issue.

Because they are American not Israeli.

Sometimes, it's better just not to post than to hint at antisemitic tropes

[RFayette]

In America, Jews disproportionately tend to...

(1) Have college degrees
(2) Live in urban areas

Those things, particularly when taken together, make it extremely unlikely that someone is going to vote Republican.

If Republicans really want to win a larger share of the Jewish vote, they should start a campaign to discourage young Jews from attending college and convince them to go live in places like Huntington, WV and Cape Girardeau, MO. Over time, they will "assimilate" to their new surroundings (of course, they will also probably stop identifying as Jewish).

This is true, but Jews have been voting Democratic far longer than other urban/upscale suburban college-educated white groups have been.  They were some of the strongest supporters of FDR and have been solidly Dem since.  It is surprising that Hillary did worse than Kerry with Jewish voters, for example.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections

There is strong Democratic ancestry at play here, on top of the contemporary factors associated with Democratic voting, such as being a college-educated person residing in an urban area.

[darklordoftech]

In America, Jews disproportionately tend to...

(1) Have college degrees
(2) Live in urban areas

Those things, particularly when taken together, make it extremely unlikely that someone is going to vote Republican.

If Republicans really want to win a larger share of the Jewish vote, they should start a campaign to discourage young Jews from attending college and convince them to go live in places like Huntington, WV and Cape Girardeau, MO. Over time, they will "assimilate" to their new surroundings (of course, they will also probably stop identifying as Jewish).

This is true, but Jews have been voting Democratic far longer than other urban/upscale suburban college-educated white groups have been.  They were some of the strongest supporters of FDR and have been solidly Dem since.  It is surprising that Hillary did worse than Kerry with Jewish voters, for example.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections

There is strong Democratic ancestry at play here, on top of the contemporary factors associated with Democratic voting, such as being a college-educated person residing in an urban area.

As for Kerry, I wouldn't be surprised if many Jews thought "You're unpatriotic if you oppose my war" sounded like Hitler calling them "un-German".

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

jews care about other issues?

Also, considering most American Jews are Reform\Conservative and Israel is literally repeatedly spitting in their faces, so they probably increasingly care less about this issue.

Because they are American not Israeli.

Sometimes, it's better just not to post than to hint at antisemitic tropes

Please explain why your delusional mind sees this as an anti-Semitic trope. Or do you see all Jews as Israeli? That would seem to be an anti-Semitic trope to me.

[The Mikado]

In America, Jews disproportionately tend to...

(1) Have college degrees
(2) Live in urban areas

Those things, particularly when taken together, make it extremely unlikely that someone is going to vote Republican.

If Republicans really want to win a larger share of the Jewish vote, they should start a campaign to discourage young Jews from attending college and convince them to go live in places like Huntington, WV and Cape Girardeau, MO. Over time, they will "assimilate" to their new surroundings (of course, they will also probably stop identifying as Jewish).

This is true, but Jews have been voting Democratic far longer than other urban/upscale suburban college-educated white groups have been.  They were some of the strongest supporters of FDR and have been solidly Dem since.  It is surprising that Hillary did worse than Kerry with Jewish voters, for example.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections

There is strong Democratic ancestry at play here, on top of the contemporary factors associated with Democratic voting, such as being a college-educated person residing in an urban area.

As for Kerry, I wouldn't be surprised if many Jews thought "You're unpatriotic if you oppose my war" sounded like Hitler calling them "un-German".

...What the hell is this.

No, it's that Bush's campaign was openly, unapologetically, and blatantly Christian in a way that makes non-Christians deeply uncomfortable (and which no GOP candidate has done since).

[America Needs R'hllor]

jews care about other issues?

Also, considering most American Jews are Reform\Conservative and Israel is literally repeatedly spitting in their faces, so they probably increasingly care less about this issue.

Because they are American not Israeli.

Sometimes, it's better just not to post than to hint at antisemitic tropes

Please explain why your delusional mind sees this as an anti-Semitic trope. Or do you see all Jews as Israeli? That would seem to be an anti-Semitic trope to me.

You were very clearly hinting at the "double loyalty" sh**t that asks Jews to choose their loyalty. The existence of the Jewish state is just the recent development in this trope.

American Jews are indeed Americans, but that doesn't change the fact that they CAN let Israel influence their politics, just like Ukrainian Americans can be influenced by Ukraine policy and Palestinian Americans by Palestinian policy. For some reason, no one is looking at the latter two examples crookedly. I'm not implying you're an antisemite or anything (though that neat recommend feature tells me Atlas' biggest antismite delights in your calling me delusional), but these themes, like "double loyalty", are ingrained in many people's minds and understanding it is important.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

jews care about other issues?

Also, considering most American Jews are Reform\Conservative and Israel is literally repeatedly spitting in their faces, so they probably increasingly care less about this issue.

Because they are American not Israeli.

Sometimes, it's better just not to post than to hint at antisemitic tropes

Please explain why your delusional mind sees this as an anti-Semitic trope. Or do you see all Jews as Israeli? That would seem to be an anti-Semitic trope to me.

You were very clearly hinting at the "double loyalty" sh**t that asks Jews to choose their loyalty. The existence of the Jewish state is just the recent development in this trope.

American Jews are indeed Americans, but that doesn't change the fact that they CAN let Israel influence their politics, just like Ukrainian Americans can be influenced by Ukraine policy and Palestinian Americans by Palestinian policy. For some reason, no one is looking at the latter two examples crookedly. I'm not implying you're an antisemite or anything (though that neat recommend feature tells me Atlas' biggest antismite delights in your calling me delusional), but these themes, like "double loyalty", are ingrained in many people's minds and understanding it is important.

I was hinting at nothing. I find this question which repeatedly comes up incredible inane (the question being any variation of "why do Jews vote left if the left is anti-Israel"). Although the OP is a red avatar it is almost exclusively asked by the right wing who expect American Jews to suddenly vote Republican because Trump is so pro-Israel. The only accusation of dual loyalty comes from the likes of Trump and the GOP who expect American Jews to start voting GOP because of the GOP's support and the Democrats perceived lack of support for Israel (remember Trump's "your" PM comment?)

My comment was merely meant to point out the absurdity of expecting American Jews political habits to move in a uniform motion with the DEM/GOP treatment of Israel.

[America Needs R'hllor]

jews care about other issues?

Also, considering most American Jews are Reform\Conservative and Israel is literally repeatedly spitting in their faces, so they probably increasingly care less about this issue.

Because they are American not Israeli.

Sometimes, it's better just not to post than to hint at antisemitic tropes

Please explain why your delusional mind sees this as an anti-Semitic trope. Or do you see all Jews as Israeli? That would seem to be an anti-Semitic trope to me.

You were very clearly hinting at the "double loyalty" sh**t that asks Jews to choose their loyalty. The existence of the Jewish state is just the recent development in this trope.

American Jews are indeed Americans, but that doesn't change the fact that they CAN let Israel influence their politics, just like Ukrainian Americans can be influenced by Ukraine policy and Palestinian Americans by Palestinian policy. For some reason, no one is looking at the latter two examples crookedly. I'm not implying you're an antisemite or anything (though that neat recommend feature tells me Atlas' biggest antismite delights in your calling me delusional), but these themes, like "double loyalty", are ingrained in many people's minds and understanding it is important.

I was hinting at nothing. I find this question which repeatedly comes up incredible inane (the question being any variation of "why do Jews vote left if the left is anti-Israel"). Although the OP is a red avatar it is almost exclusively asked by the right wing who expect American Jews to suddenly vote Republican because Trump is so pro-Israel. The only accusation of dual loyalty comes from the likes of Trump and the GOP who expect American Jews to start voting GOP because of the GOP's support and the Democrats perceived lack of support for Israel (remember Trump's "your" PM comment?)

My comment was merely meant to point out the absurdity of expecting American Jews political habits to move in a uniform motion with the DEM/GOP treatment of Israel.

Alright, I do think it could've been worded better but maybe it's my nuanced attention to these things And oh, yeah, I remember Trump's comment and I think it's extremely inane and not much better than the "all about the Benjamins" comment. Of course, I think accusations of double loyalty come from the far-left too, but that's another discussion.

[Orser67]

People have done a good job of covering the reasons why Jews tend be liberal and vote Democratic, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned that many American Jews don't approve of Trump's handling of Israel. Compared to Israeli Jews, American Jews are much more favorable towards a two-state solution and conciliatory policies towards Palestinians.

[darklordoftech]

The Republicans weren't consistently "the party of Israel" before 9/11.

[Tekken_Guy]

Israel really is not a particularly salient issue to most American Jews. They care about domestic policy first and foremost, things like gun control and women’s rights and healthcare. Most Jews don’t have the same particularistic attitude that evangelical Christians do, and instead see social justice at the corner of Judaism. They were once a persecuted minority, and now that they have assimilated their duty is to help those who are less fortunate than them.

Most Jews that I know are far more concerned about white supremacy on the right than anti-Zionism on the left. The close GOP-Israel relationship isn’t warming Jews to the GOP, instead it’s just pushing them away from Israel. And the anti-Israel left is irrelevant because a lot of Jews actually agree with what they’ve been saying.