Dems Abroad-Israel Leader: Five Reasons Why American Jews Vote Democratic

Ariela Fleisig — August 9, 2011 – 1:22 pm | Democrats | Israel | Obama Comments (1) Add a comment

Hillel Schenker, Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad-Israel, wrote in The Jerusalem Report that American Jews have continuously supported the Democratic Party because the Party reflects Jewish values.

In his piece, entitled “Why Do US Jews Vote Democratic?,” Schenker explained:

The vast majority [of Jews] believe that their Jewish identity is inspired by humanistic and prophetic traditions of social justice, charity and tikun olam (repairing the world). That’s what led them to be founders of the American trade union movement ... the movements for civil and human rights, the free speech movement, the women’s movement ... the anti-Vietnam War movement ... and of course the civil rights movement ...

In their view, since Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal in the 1930s, those values have been expressed primarily by the Democratic Party….

Schenker emphasized that the separation of church and state is an important component of why Jews support the Democratic Party:

American Jews believe that their secure place within American society is guaranteed by the separation of church and state. Many in the Republican camp tend to blur that separation and advocate considering America a ‘Christian country,’ despite the fact that most of the founding fathers were freethinking deists. Moreover, Evangelical Christians have disproportionate influence in the Republican Party, with their support for Greater Israel, the return of all Jews to the Holy Land and then the Rapture - the return of the savior and the conversion of all Jews to Christianity.

He also wrote that American Jews “overwhelmingly support social welfare programs” that are often under attack by Republicans:

American Jews overwhelmingly support social welfare programs involving government funding, such as Medicare and Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance and, of course, Social Security, while Republicans want to cut, and sometimes even eliminate, those programs….

Although most American Jews are middle or upper middle class, they are not uniformly wealthy like Sheldon Adelson, Irving Moscowitz and Ron Lauder (all Republicans) and they feel themselves vulnerable to economic fluctuations. Most believe that Republican economic policies contributed to the current crisis.

Schenker also explained how most American Jews view President Barack Obama’s record of supporting Israel:

The overwhelming majority of the American Jews do not buy into the charges that the Democrats and President Barack Obama are ‘anti-Israel.’ They know that the military relationship between the US and Israel is stronger than ever, and that the Democrats will stand by Israel and will help it to achieve peace with its neighbors, which is the ultimate Israeli interest.

He concluded by referring to Professor Chaim Waxman of the Jewish People Policy Institute, who believes that “American Jews vote Democrat because they view the values and interests, which the party represents, to be congruent with their own.”

Click here to read Schenker’s full article (subscription required).

Comments