South Florida Jewish Voters are Wary of Palin – McCain Ticket
Senator Barack Obama has been struggling for months with older Jewish voters principally in south Florida. The addition of evangelical christian Sarah Palin may have reversed a trend and tipped a Florida into the Democratic column. Suddenly, Obama/Biden looks better than Palin-McCain.
Politico, Ben Smith, September 2nd, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Barack Obama has struggled for 18 months to lock down the support of a traditionally Democratic group, Jewish voters.
In the past week, John McCain may have helped Obama with his Jewish problem by choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
McCain and Obama are battling over a portion of the Jewish community: older, conservative Democrats, largely in South Florida, some of whom backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. McCain’s secular, hawkish credentials appeal to many in that group, who are skeptical of Obama’s relatively short record and have been deluged with rumors about his pro-Palestinian leanings.
But Democrats hope Palin’s social conservatism, her paper-thin record on Israel, and — perhaps most importantly — her cultural roots in evangelical Christianity may be a major turnoff to Jewish voters, just as Republicans have tried to reach women disappointed that Obama didn’t choose Hillary Clinton,
Democrats have already begun to to capitalize on the choice of Palin — over Jewish Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman — in South Florida and elsewhere. A prominent Obama backer, Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, has attacked Palin for appearing at a 1999 event with Pat Buchanan — who has attacked the influence of the Israeli lobby in America. And the same factors that are rallying the evangelical base to Palin may push away the Jews.
“There is almost always an inverse proportion between a candidate’s popularity among conservative Christians and secular Jews,” said Jeff Ballabon, a Republican lobbyist long active in Jewish politics who supports McCain. Click here to read more at Politico.
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October 24th, 2008 at 3:00 am
[...] interesting side note is that there have been several speculative indications that Jewish voters strongly dislike Sarah Palin (Newsweekeven asked this week: ”Will Palin cost the GOP Jewish Voters?”) . [...]