Could the Jewish vote go Republican this year? The answer, as always, is no, of course not. But President Obama has lost enough ground with Jewish voters to create some problems for himself in Florida, as Democratic pollster Doug Schoen explained on Newsmax TV:
One of Obama’s biggest hurdles: capturing Florida’s Jewish voters. The president, polls show, has about 60-65 percent of the Jewish vote, but, says Schoen, if Obama does not win “a full 75 percent…it could, in fact, be decisive.”
The state is “effectively deadlocked,” said Schoen, the author of Hopelessly Divided: The New Crisis in American Politics and What It Means for 2012 and Beyond.
“Jews are necessarily torn, because they see the president as somebody who, aspirationally, has committed himself to Israel,” he said. “At the same time, there have been concerns about the settlement policy and also about the nature of his commitment to do whatever it takes in Iran.”
The familiar debate about the Jewish vote is reigniting now that Romney is visiting Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition is kicking off its swing state campaign. As Jonathan wrote earlier today, the New York Times reports the RJC is reaching out to Jewish voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, in an effort to chip away at Obama’s support base. The majority of Jewish voters still back Obama, but his poll numbers have dipped significantly since 2008:
The group, the Republican Jewish Coalition, plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in the coming weeks called “My Buyer’s Remorse,” targeting voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, aides said. The campaign uses testimonials from people who say they regret supporting Mr. Obama because of his economic policies and his posture toward Israel, in hopes of cutting into the wide advantage Democrats have held over Republicans among Jewish voters.
Obama will have a difficult time countering the RJC campaign, as he seems to be lacking in the pro-Israel surrogates department at the moment. Even Obama’s own supporters don’t seem to be denying he’s bad for Israel anymore. J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told the Times that “The people who vote only on Israel didn’t vote for Obama last time and know who they are voting for already.” So there you have it, directly from J Street. If you judge the president on his Israel policy, you probably won’t support him.
If He loses Florida then our Great Genius and Fearless Leader will send forth his flying monkeys to blame it on the Jews, which is pretty much what he's done for the last 3.5 years anyway.
Your Empresship, as much as I usually agree with you and as much as I have little use for our current President, I must dissent. He has spent the last 3.5 years having his flying monkeys blame Bush for nearly everything, the NRA for some things, the (AFAIK) non-Jewish Kochs for others, and have restricted their blame for Israel and especially PM Netanyahu to one subject: the fact that the PA is still more interested in genocide than in peace and independence, and for stubbornly refusing to agree to be slaughtered. n n But the flying monkeys, while not above slamming Israel Firsters (i.e. 'the wrong kind of Jews'), Likkudniks (i.e. 'the wrong kind of Jews') , neocons (i.e. 'the wrong kind of Jews and their Christian dupes and enablers") and the Dreaded Israel/Zionist Lobby (i.e. 'the wrong kind of Jews and their Christian dupes and enablers") have not yet taken to blaming the Jews in general for even this, nor to blaming even the wrong kind of Jews for anything else. n n Yet.
Fair enough. But when I hear Debbie Wasserman Schultz using Reform Synagogues as the Florida version of MSNBC Obama's advertising I have to wonder who's calling which kettle black. I mean what next? A political test to gain membership to shul?
Romney doesn't need to keep harping that Obama is a failure (whether on Israel, the economy or any other issue). The voters know that Obama has screwed up and they're already properly cynical about Obama's claims that he supports Israel. n nRomney needs to convince these voters that it is okay to vote for him. And to do so, he needs to take on the issue that is keeping, in this case, Jewish voters from supporting him: their (to me) irrational fear of the religious right and the fear that Romney will be a puppet of those religious nuts. I don't know how he can do this, but If Romney can convince these voters that his winning won't result in their being forced to convert to Christianity (or whatever else it is that Jewish voters are afraid of happening), that will go a long way towards him getting the percentage of Jewish voters he needs to win Florida.
No matter how hard Obama apologists try, there is no way a sensible supporter of Israel can claim that a Obama victory will be better for Israel than a Romney victory.
Isn't the fate of Israel a tad more uncertain than it was 4 years ago? nMight those who didn't vote on Israel then be more likely to do so now as a result?
After so many slaps in the face of Israel and the Jewish community, like the recent Rabbis for Obama and Hamas and Iran, I could think of one thing that Obama could do to get Jewish and Christian support in Florida. n nTell Iran we will attack if they go nuclear. Instead of the weak all options are on the table.