Will American Jews & Arab Americans Win the Election for Kerry?

[BlueNomad]

Music to my ears, the Washington Post reports today that Kerry has picked up 10% points in Jewish support. I could not get it on the Washington Post (paid) site so I have posted the intro and link below from the Jerusalem Post. Equally interesting is the Kerry support from Arab Americans in battle ground states....

Sep. 21, 2004 22:45 | Updated Sep. 22, 2004 0:29
Poll: 69% of US Jews will vote for John Kerry
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Reports indicate that a new survey by the American Jewish Committee, scheduled to be released Wednesday, finds that only 24 percent of
American Jews would vote for President Bush, while 69 percent would vote for Senator John Kerry.

The finding represents a remarkable 23 percent drop in American Jewish support for President Bush since last December, when an
AJC poll found that 31 percent of American Jews would vote for President Bush at that time...

"These reported poll results just confirm the numbers we found in our own polling last month, when an NJDC poll found that Jewish voters preferSenator Kerry over President Bush by a 75-22 percent margin. These results show that Karl Rove and President Bush's political operation have failed miserably. They have worked mightily to court the American Jewish vote for three years, with all of the resources available to the President of the United States. Yet they have failed to measurably move the American Jewish vote," said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira N. Forman.

<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095743615399&p=1006688055060>

AND the Arab American possible power play (note this article is from August):

Polls suggest Arab-Americans gravitating toward Kerry
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | August 13, 2004

Arab-American voters, disenchanted with President Bush's policies on the Middle East and what they consider an assault on their civil liberties around the country, are abandoning the Republican president and throwing their support behind his Democratic opponent, John F. Kerry, according to polls and community leaders.

The nation's 3.5 million Arab-Americans constitute a voting bloc that perhaps more than any other has shifted its party loyalties since the 2000 election, when nearly half voted for Bush. Polls conducted this summer indicated Kerry leading Bush by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.

Their votes could prove crucial this year, analysts say, especially in such battleground states as Michigan, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, each with more than 100,000 voters of Arab descent. But their support for Kerry appears soft, some say, in part because both he and Bush have taken strong pro-Israel positions. As a result, the ultimate allegiance of Arab-Americans remains volatile, with a significant number considering a vote for independent Ralph Nader, a Lebanese-American who has called for the United States to pull out of Iraq and the repeal of the USA Patriot Act...

There are an estimated 270,000 Arab-Americans in Florida, 400,000 in Michigan, 160,000 in Ohio, and 150,000 in Pennsylvania. About 70 percent of Arab-Americans are Christians.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/13/polls_suggest_arab_americans_gravitating_toward_kerry/


My only caveat, I have read that Gore got up to 79% of the Jewish. If this is true, keep working boys and girls....

[DaveinMD]

1. you see

Bush is a uniter. No one else could have united Jews and Arabs.

[BlueNomad]

2. amused...

I was thinking the same thing...

[JuniorPlankton]

3. But tell me this

how could a third of Arab-Americans plan to vote for the chimp?

[BlueNomad]

4. maybe...

some are conservative right wing Christians...just a guess since 70% or more of them are Christians...but who am I ...I did not know there was a such things as Black Log Cabin Gay Republicans....

[Malikshah]

5. like they did in 2000

many that I spoke too (by no means any great number) lumped the chimp with his dad-- who had put the Israeli feet to the fire in the early 90's over the issue of foreign aid and settlements.

Poppy Bush was much less Likudist than Reagan or the Chimp

how things have changed.

[DaveinMD]

6. Remember James Baker

said "Fuck the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway."

[calico1]

7. For the same reason gays vote for him.

Money and wealth are more important than principles.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

8. That's still 10% less than Gore got

But it is still pretty high...I think Gore's almost 80% of the Jewish vote was unusually high, owing in part to Lieberman being on the ticket.