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Jewish vote increasingly important to Democratic success in election |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 04/24/07 07:54 PM [ET] |
Democratic presidential candidates are pushing hard and early for the support of Jewish opinion leaders, a crucial get in a crowded field.
That drive was evident this week in Washington as the candidates addressed the inaugural policy conference of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC).
Exit polling from the last two elections shows Jewish voters trending more toward Democrats than Republicans.
And although the numbers were high in previous cycles, recent estimates make the demographic as crucial to Democratic success as traditional voting blocs such as blacks and Big Labor.
In 2006, Democratic exit polls showed 87 percent of Jewish voters voted Democratic. In 2004, media estimates put the number around 75 percent.
NJDC’s executive director, Ira Forman, said there are two components of the importance of the Jewish vote — the weight it carries in swing states and the bloc’s degree of involvement.
Matt Brooks, of the Republican Jewish Coalition, disputed the Democratic stronghold on Jewish voters.
Brooks said every presidential election since 1992 has seen more Jewish voters choosing Republican candidates than the one before.
In 1992, 11 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballots for Republican candidates, compared to the 25 percent who voted for Republicans in 2004, Brooks said.
“I think it’s a bit of denial on [Democrats’] part,” he said. “Every year, more and more inroads are being made.
“By definition, every time we go up, they go down.”
Forman acknowledged the importance of the Jewish vote to both parties, but said it is “doubly important” to Democrats.
Jewish support long has been considered crucial to winning the critical swing state of Florida, but Forman said the same is true in Ohio, Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania, among others.
Forman called Jewish voters the most politically involved of all the ethnic groups, be it on a fundraising or grassroots level.
“They’re necessary, not sufficient,” Forman said.
The Democratic camps were clearly aware of that this week.
All of the candidates who spoke through Tuesday — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are scheduled to speak this morning — tailored their speeches to the older, Jewish crowd.
Each speech delivered thus far has contained a heavy emphasis on Middle Eastern policies that, while not unusual given the current debate on Iraq, were notable in that they dwelt on protecting Israel and limiting Iran.
America’s alliance with Israel was mentioned prominently, as yesterday was the 59th anniversary of the latter’s declaration of independence.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), whose father was an interrogator at the Nuremburg Trials, said he was present to state his part in the U.S. friendship with Israel, “an island of openness in a sea of fear.”
Another common thread throughout the speeches was what Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) described as “the Axis of Oil,” or U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern states for oil.
Yet another theme touched on by most of the candidates was that of stopping the genocide in Sudan, an issue the Jewish-American community has embraced.
Biden, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) used tough words when describing how they would address the tragedy in Darfur.
“I intend to show the world that when we say, ‘Never again,’ we mean it,” Obama said.
Biden, who devoted much of his speech to Iraq, said, “Bottom line, if the rest of the world won’t go with me, I’m sending American troops alone to end it.”
The crowd responded with approval to all the candidates who had spoken through yesterday afternoon, and Forman said everyone he had talked to was pleased with the field from which they have to choose.
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