The Reflexive Liberalism of American Jews

In the 2006 mid-term national election, 87% of Jews voted for Democrats. Republicans actually did better among gay, lesbian and bisexual voters than they did among Jews. Since the Democratic Party is generally more sympathetic and supportive to gay rights, it makes sense to me that as a voting block, gay people would vote for Democrats. For Jews – a diverse demographic group – the reason for their support for Democrats seems far less clear.

What exactly does the Democratic Party offer Jews that would cause them to support Democrats in such a monolithic block?

It's an important question, because early on in the 2008 general election campaign there was talk that John McCain expected to make significant inroads with the Jewish vote -- a block that votes consistently (and overwhelmingly) for Democrats. Initially, I found this somewhat plausible, because Hillary Clinton had the majority of Jewish support during the Democratic primaries, and Barack Obama's tepid support for Israel and his association with black liberation theology created suspicion in the minds of many Jews. In this context, I thought it plausible that McCain would significantly improve on the 24% Jewish vote that George W. Bush polled in 2004.

Though that is still possible, it isn't likely. As Willy Stern in The Weekly Standard writes, Obama's support is consistent with that of other Democratic presidential candidates:

Democratic candidates typically pull at least 65 percent of the Jewish vote in any presidential race. Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey, and Clinton broke the 80 percent barrier. Bush, the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House, grabbed a meager 19 percent (2000) and 24 percent (2004) of Jewish voters. The latest Gallup Poll gives Obama 66 percent of the Jewish vote: not great, but comparable to Mondale's and Dukakis's tallies.

Stern's numbers were largely reinforced last month by the annual survey of American Jews released by the American Jewish Committee. Respondents to the survey classified themselves as 36% Orthodox or Conservative Jews, 30% as Reform and 31% as non-religious. As to political affiliation, 44% described themselves as “liberal”, 30% “moderate” and 24% “Conservative”. 56% are registered as Democrats, 25% as Independents and 17% Republican. And 57% would vote for Barack Obama and 30% for John McCain, with 13% undecided. Pretty consistent with current polling numbers on the race.

Even more interesting, is that the results of the survey show a rather severe disconnect between American Jews and Israel. Israeli Jews (as the Willy Stern piece in the Weekly Standard shows) overwhelmingly support McCain over Barack Obama. The reason for this is because Israelis are chiefly concerned with terrorism and security – issues that they believe are best handled by McCain. Not so with American Jews, according to the AJC survey: 54% say the economy is the number one issue that they want to hear the presidential candidates talk about, followed by health care at 11%. Only 6% want to hear more about the war in Iraq, 5% about terrorism and only 3% about Israel.

This disconnect with the concerns of Israeli Jews is even clearer in the AJC survey when it asks American Jews which party it thinks will do a better job when it comes to security issues. While Israeli Jews prefer John McCain to Barack Obama 43 to 20, American Jews believe that by a 53 to 36 margin, Democrats are more likely to make the right decisions about terrorism, 61 to 30 believe that Democrats will make the right decisions when it comes to the Iraq War, and 52 to 32 believe they will make the right decisions when it comes to Israel.

And the majority of AJC respondents see themselves as “close to Israel”: 67% say that they feel either “very close” or “fairly close” to Israel, while 31% say that they feel “very distant” or “fairly distant”. And they also feel strongly that these issues are real and severe. The AJC survey shows that 56% of American Jews believe that Israel and its Arab neighbors will never live in peace, 68% feel that Israel cannot achieve peace with Hamas.

The AJC survey shows clearly an interesting paradox: American Jews see themselves as close to Israel, and see the existential threats to Israel as real. But they don’t rank Israel’s security at anywhere near the top of the issues that they feel are important. By contrast, Israeli Jews place security at the top of the list. Not surprising, since Israelis live with the daily threat of suicide bombings and other terror. Thanks in part to the excellent work of our military and civilian security agencies, we don't have that threat here.

As Dennis Prager has shown in his piece Why are Jews Liberal?, the reasons for Jewish liberalism are fairly straightforward. Prager argues that liberal Jews are preoccupied with social justice and are concerned primarily with "this world" and not the afterlife -- something that makes them particularly attuned to the need for government programs to help the disadvantaged. He also sees Jews as being inherently fearful of anything "right wing" -- having made a (historically inaccurate) link between the right and Nazi Germany. In addition, as the AJC survey shows, many Jews are secular and thus fearful of other religions -- in particular Christianity. Thus the "Religious Right" in America -- linked to the Republican Party -- is of particular concern to many Jews, which link it to intolerance and anti-Semitism. And finally, liberal Jews fear nationalism -- the unbridled patriotism that they generally ascribe to conservatives:

The birth of nationalism in Europe planted the secular seeds of the Holocaust (religious seeds had been planted by some early and medieval Church teachings and reinforced by Martin Luther). European nationalists welcomed all national identities except the Jews'. That is a major reason so many Jews identify primarily as "world citizens"; they have contempt for nationalism and believe that strong national identities, even in America, will exclude them.

Just as liberal Jews fear a resurgent Christianity despite the fact that contemporary Christians are the Jews' best friends, leftist Jews fear American nationalism despite the fact that Americans who believe in American exceptionalism are far more pro-Jewish and pro-Israel than leftist Americans. But most leftist Jews so abhor nationalism, they don't even like the Jews' nationalism (Zionism).

Thus, liberalism pervades many areas of Jewish life and tend to resist factual or rational arguments to the contrary. Though Israeli Jews see Republicans as generally tougher on national security and more protective of Israel, liberal American Jews fear the kind of strong nationalism that would lead itself to the protection of America and American interests -- including Israel.

It is a paradox, to be sure -- and one that Prager feels presents a real danger to the world:

If you believe that leftist ideas and policies are good for America and for the world, then you are particularly pleased to know how deeply Jews — with their moral passion, intellectual energies and abilities, and financial clout — are involved with the Left. If, on the other hand, you believe that the Left is morally confused and largely a destructive force in America and the world, then the Jews' disproportionate involvement on the Left is nothing less than a tragedy — for the world and especially for the Jews.

And it is a tragedy for Israel as well. For if Barack Obama is elected President, with his plan to negotiate with Iran without "preconditions" and his stated sympathies for the Palestinians and Arab grievances, Israel's security will be substantially weakened.

It is too bad that American Jews don't put the security of their homeland above their own irrational fears, outdated conceptions and reflexive ideology. Perhaps it is now time for Jews to reexamine which party bests protects their interests, and the interests of Israel.