No Disproportionate Decline in Jewish Support for Obama Over Mideast Policies

Posted by KATHY KATTENBURG in Economy, Health, Politics, Religion, Society.
Oct 2nd, 2009 | 7 responses

A new Gallup poll reveals that Pres. Obama’s Jewish support is the strongest of any other non-Hispanic white religious grouping:

Gallup Daily tracking for the month of September found 64% of U.S. Jews approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, significantly higher than the 52% average among national adults in September, and also higher than was seen among Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons. Only nonreligious Americans equal Jews in their support for the president.

The poll also finds that, although Obama’s approval rating in the Jewish community has gone down from its post-election high of 83%, “the decline … is no greater than that seen among the general public.” This is significant, because it “suggests that since Obama became president, his actions on Middle East policy issues — particularly relating to Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian dispute — have not had a disproportionately negative (or positive) impact on his image among U.S. Jews.”

7 Responses to “No Disproportionate Decline in Jewish Support for Obama Over Mideast Policies”

1. Tweets that mention No Disproportionate Decline in Jewish Support for Obama Over Mideast Policies | The Moderate Voice -- Topsy.com says:

   October 2, 2009 at 6:41 pm

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TMV. TMV said: No Disproportionate Decline in Jewish Support for Obama Over Mideast Policies: A new Gallup poll reveals that P.. http://bit.ly/1agyol [...]
2. Leonidas says:

   October 2, 2009 at 8:18 pm

   Be interesting to see what Iran policy does to that support:

   Poll: U.S. Jews back Iran strike, denominations split on Obama
   http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/29/1008202/…

   Fifty-six percent of American Jews would support the “United States taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons,” according to the American Jewish Committee's 2009 Annual Survey of Jewish Opinion. That's an increase of 14 percentage points from the AJC survey taken in the fall of 2008. In addition, 66 percent of those surveyed said they would back an Israeli strike on Iran.

   Instead, religious denomination was the true variable, particularly on evaluations of President Obama.

   Just 14 percent of Orthodox respondents said they approved of the Obama administration's handling of U.S.-Israel relations, compared to 54 and 59 percent for Conservative and Reform Jews, respectively. And 13 percent said they approved of the president's handling of the Iran nuclear issue, with 44 percent of Conservative Jews and 54 percent of Reform Jews feeling positively about the president. On a potential strike against Iran, however, there is general agreement among denominations in favor, ranging from 61 percent of Orthodox to 53 percent of Reform.
3. superdestroyer says:

   October 2, 2009 at 9:24 pm

   So what. Jews are one of the most liberal groups in the U.S. Jews will always support the big spending, big government party.
4. kathykattenburg says:

   October 2, 2009 at 11:28 pm

   You're walking the edge with that second sentence.
5. tidbits says:

   October 3, 2009 at 1:16 am

   I won't claim Judaism, though my maternal grandfather was Jewish (go ahead SD call me liberal because of my heritage…I guarantee you I was called much worse growing up in an Italian-Catholic neighborhood). The poll does not surprise me. Jews, both in Israel and America, want peace not confrontationalism. To the extent that Obama holds out a new prospect for peace he will be given a chance by the majority of the Jewish population.
6. DLS says:

   October 3, 2009 at 12:33 pm

   Obama reportedly gave Netanyahu a signed statement agreeing to support current Israeli nuclear policy, so an ugly leftist threat has been removed (“nuclear-free Middle East” = disarming Israel).
7. kathykattenburg says:

   October 3, 2009 at 4:40 pm

   Beautiful, tidbits. Well said. Thank you.