by Frank James
Earlier today I posted on a Gallup Poll which indicated that Sen. Barack Obama was running almost as well among Jewish voters as Sen. Hillary "Obliterate Iran" Clinton in a head-to-head against Sen. John McCain.
Then I received this press release from the Republican Jewish Coalition:
RJC Statement on Recent Gallup Poll Data
Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2008) -- Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the followed statement today:
"The just released Gallup poll of Jewish voters is another important indicator of the ongoing troubles Barack Obama has with Jewish voters. In the poll of Jewish voters (conducted April 1-30), it showed Obama getting only 61% of the Jewish vote against John McCain (32%). By comparison, in 2004, John Kerry received 75% of the Jewish vote and George W. Bush received 25%. The recent polling numbers demonstrate Obama's weakness among Jewish voters. This data comes on the heels of the exit poll data from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton beat Obama among Jewish voters 62% - 38%," said Brooks. "These results show that the American Jewish community is troubled by what they know of Barack Obama, his views and his positions. The RJC remains confident that John McCain will continue the trend of the GOP making inroads among Jewish voters."
Since 1992, Jewish vote for the Republican presidential candidate has grown every year:
Poll results from CNN-Time Election Exit Polls 1996 and CNN Election Poll results 2004.
It's noteworthy that the Jewish vote for Kerry in 2004 was 75 percent. Of course it's always possible that some of that vote resulted from Kerry's Jewish ancestry which was one of the more interesting side stories to emerge during the 2004 campaign.
Kerry had a Jewish grandfather who emigrated from what is now the Czech Republic, converting to Catholicism before embarking for the U.S. and changing the family name from Kohn to Kerry.
What's more, the Massachusetts senator has a brother, Cam, who converted to Judaism.
Here's part of the 2003 Boston Globe story which broke the story about Kerry ancestry:
For years, US Senator John Forbes Kerry had sought to know the true story of his immigrant grand father, Frederick A. Kerry, the patriarch who established the family in Boston and then mysteriously took his own life.
The senator searched phone books and the Internet and quizzed his cousins, but he was only able to learn fragments of family history.
The story, it turns out, began in a small town in the Czech Republic that once was part of the Austrian empire. Birth records there show that Frederick A. Kerry was born as Fritz Kohn to Jewish parents, according to a genealogy specialist hired by the Globe. Kohn changed his name to Kerry around 1902 and emigrated to the United States in 1905, eventually moving to Boston.
In 1921, Frederick Kerry went to the Copley Plaza Hotel, entered a washroom, and shot himself in the head. It was front-page news. His filing in Probate Court listed him as practically broke.
While Senator Kerry said he knew his grandfather had committed suicide, he said he knew no details until he was shown a copy of a 1921 article last week.
"How many times have I walked into that hotel . . ." said an emotional Kerry, his voice trailing off. He said it was the first time he had talked publicly about the suicide.
Kerry said he learned about 15 years ago that his grandmother was Jewish. That led to years of unsuccessful efforts to learn more about his grandfather's roots and his own.
"This is amazing; that is fascinating to me," Kerry said, in reference to the ancestral records. "This is incredible stuff. I think it is more than interesting; it is a revelation."
So Sen. Kerry's strong Jewish support in the 2004 election, relative to Obama's support now with the same voter group, could have arguably more to do with how Kerry's Jewish heritage compelled support from many Jewish Americans than any perceived deficiency, in their eyes, in Obama's pro-Israel stance.
• 
• 
• 
• 
Comments
Spin is kosher?
Posted by: bill r. | May 7, 2008 6:54 PM
"JOE LIEBERMAN SPEAKS"
NOT ON MY WATCH!
NOT BEFORE MY "Z" PEOPLE BECOME "Z" PEOPLE! OBAMA IS A "MERIT BASED" OPPONENT AT BEST. NOT BEFORE MY "JOHN MCCAIN" HE'S BLACK!
SHE'S A WOMAN!
NOT ON MY WATCH. I CREATED "HOMELAND SECURITY" THE DAY AFTER 9/11. I CREATED THE "Z" PATCH. I CREATED THE MANIFESTO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION "SHAWDOW WOLVES" BARRACK OBAMA IS "MERIT BASED" NOMINEE AT BEST!
NOT ON MY WATCH, I DICTATE WHAT THE "JEWISH" COMMUNITY DOES AND DOES NOT DO!
I'M THE "JEWISH MASSAIH" IN AMERICA! THOSE HISPANCS ARE MY "WORKERS TO BE"
HE'S BLACK, SHE'S A WOMAN. I'M A "CROSSOVER" THE GOP "GUARD" OF THE "SHEEP" I'M THE JEWISH MASSAIH IN AMERICA! JOHN MCCAIN WILL DELIVER US UNTO HIM, NOT BARRACK OR HILLARY. JOHN MCCAIN BORN 1936 COLO SOLO PANAMA CANAL ZONE IS THE 2ND COVENANT. HE IS TO DELIVER US UNTO "HIM"
NOT ON MY WATCH, I CREATED "HOMELAND SECURITY" I CREATED AL QUEDA. I ALONE "REMOVED" SADDAM HUSSEIN, AND THERE WERE NO NEGOTIATIONS, BY THE WAY AND THERE ARE NONE WHEN IT COMES TO JEWS IN AMERICA! I'M A "CROSSOVER" AND A FOLLOWER!
Posted by: Roger Morris | May 7, 2008 7:20 PM
To: Roger Morris....Can you please translate your post??I just don't feel that far out tonight to get it.. Thanks....
Posted by: kaye c. | May 7, 2008 10:21 PM
You are right!! He is an American!! Anything wrong with that!!? What more do you want? We are fighting your fight over in Iraq, isn't that enough!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | May 7, 2008 10:24 PM
If McCain can pull 30 to 40 percent of the Jewish vote in States like NY, PA, FLA, and CA. He WIN these States.
NY. PA. & CA will be in play.
Obama other problem is Hispanic voters. If McCain can do the same 30 to 40 percent. THOSE BLUE STATES WILL GO RED,
Posted by: VJ Machiavelli | May 8, 2008 1:41 AM
To: Roger Morris....Can you please translate your post??
Posted by: kaye c. | May 7, 2008 10:21 PM
My God, kaye... you actually bother to attempt to read ROGER MORRIS's posts? Just skip past them.
Posted by: MJ | May 8, 2008 6:55 AM
Hilarious. Mr. James is shown for what he really is: An ultra-liberal Republican hater journalist.
But what else is new? In poll after poll 90% of all journalists admit that they support only Democrats.
At least he had the guts to print a retraction. I'll give him some brownie points, or should I say latte' points, for that one.
Would it be so hard for you to pick up the phone, or email a Republican source from time to time Mr. James? And get their take on a news story? Are you that biased, and hateful towards Republicans, that you cannot even get a GOP viewpoint from time to time?
Eric Dondero, Publisher
Libertarian Republican blog
Posted by: Eric Dondero | May 8, 2008 7:35 AM
I believe the Republican Jewish Committe meets in a broom closet somewhere in DC.
There is NO way that John McCain will win ANY more of the Jewish vote than George Bush. What most non-Jews don't realize (like you, Machiavelli) is that most Jews are socially liberal, and not all of their vote depends on support for Israel. So when they look at McCain's agenda, they will be flocking to vote for Obama. Also, much of the support for the Civil Rights movement came from young Jews. They are seeing in Barack Obama the fruition of these labors.
As for the Hispanic vote, the Hispanics will see John McCain's flip-flops on immigration policy to take care of that vote. Also his vote 2 years ago to make English the official language of the US. And if he gets 30 to 40 percent of that vote, ins't that LESS than Bush got???
Posted by: BobHusseininAtlanta | May 8, 2008 8:37 AM
Eric Dondero, er Bruce,
You've given your alter ego a fake title on a fake blog now? Anyway that is all I had to say you fraud.
Posted by: john | May 8, 2008 10:15 AM
This is the exact same thing that I said in the comments of the original incorrect post. For generations the Dem presidential candidate has gotten more of the Jewish vote than the Republican one has. Obama's polling is not a sign of strength, as the swamp would have you believe, but rather a sign of weakness in that a full third of Jewish voters would desert him the same way Obama would desert Israel.
Posted by: Jeff | May 8, 2008 12:17 PM