have you ever heard of the “Doctors’ plot” the problem with Czar wasn’t because they were religious and there for anti smetic. It’s just that they were anti semetic.
this is not true at all first of 1st generation Jews were less involved in in machine politics. Second the more assimilated jews are the more they vote democrat (until they lose all identity and then they move back to the national avg.) . Polls have shown that reform jews (polls put them at 77% planing on voting for Obama) (who are the most assimilated of affiliated jews) voted more then Conservative jews (polls put them at 58% planing on voting for Obama). Orthodox jews who are the only ones who practice true Judaism actually voted for McCain at rates that higher then any other demographic in this country.
the highest McCain (I’m assuming the few districts I never saw didn’t surpass this) got in any district in country in Lakewood 885-3 (99.7%). as far as I can tell the only contiguous area 50,000 people big that voted for McCain at over a 90% rate in the country was located in the heart of the Orthodox jewish neighborhood Borough Park in Brooklyn.
Also when jews first came to this country republicans did very well in Jewish areas (There were 5 jewish congressman in NY up until the 1920’s)
The true reason (and a oversimplification) that jews vote democrat is that the current mutations of issues (for example immigration today is nothing comparable to anti semtic (also happened to be anti a few other groups) quotas) that were most problematic to the first generation jews.
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[li]Jews are more educated. Higher levels of education correlates with voting Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
percentage wise Orthodox non charadi jews are more likley to be much more educated the then the avg American . Russians jews who voted in high 70% for McCain are more likely to be educated then most jews.
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[li]Jews mainly live in urban areas. Urban dwellers vote more Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
Orthodox and Russian jews are more likly to live in urban areas then reform jews
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[li]Jews live mostly in the northern (non-slave) states. Northerners vote more Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
Orthodox and Russian jews are majority of NYC’s Jewish population and they vote Republican much more then any other jewish group regardless of location
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[li]Jews work more in professions than working class. Professional people vote more Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
Orthodox jews are much more likely to be a professional then the avg new yorker
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[li]Jews are a minority; minorities tend to vote Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
Orthodox and Russian Jews are a minority of minority.
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[li]Jews are less fundamentalist/orthodoxic about religion; such people vote more Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
with some tweaks your on to the real reason I think (though Russian jews are much less religious then the avg Jew (though they have more jewish pride))
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[li]Jews tend to read more; readers vote more Democratic.[/li][/QUOTE]
the jewish groups that vote more Republican are also more read then the the avg American
[li]Historically, most Jewish families were immigrants; immigrants tend to vote more Democratic.[/li]but the more recent jewish immigrants (pre and post Holocaust who were more likley to have Orthodox decedents then from the great wave (1880-1920) and in addition many newer jewish immigrants vote republician much more then he general American ex. Russian and Iranians )
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[li]Jews were restricted to living in concentrated communities (ghettos in Europe, limited neighborhoods in America) which promoted a sense of the society working together; this social view matches with Democratic programs like Social Security, pensions, Medicare, etc.[/li][/QUOTE]
Orthodox jews have one of if not the most close communities in the country (typing this in to a google search gives 489,000 results) there a thousands of Orthodox jewish organizations that help people out. Orthodox jews are now high up in even many non Orthodox jewish charity organizations due to lack of interest on the part of most jews
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[li]compared to other religions, Jews seem to put more public emphasis on charity & taking care of your fellow humans; that aligns more with Democratic policies. [/li][/QUOTE]
(almost?) every single (fedaration) survey shows Orthodox jews give more money to charity then non Orthodox jews.
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[li]Jews were oppressed; the people who oppressed them were mostly Republicans (rich people who kept them out of clubs, jobs, & neighborhoods, or poor white trash who lynched them); so they vote Democratic. [/li][/QUOTE]
you do know that many ethnic whites were also the ones who oppressed them just like the wasps.
[li]Some prominent Republican are anti-Semitic; or hang around with loud anti-Semites; so Jews tend to vote for Democrats instead of them.[/li]Jessie Jackson, Joe Kennedy, Al Sharpton, FDR, Charles Barron ext.
[li]Within living memory, exterminating all Jews was attempted by Hitler & the Nazis, a right-leaning authoritarian political party, so Jews vote for the more left-leaning party, the Democrats. (Listed last, per Godwin’s Law. 
)[/li][/LIST]
the neighborhood in the country that has the most Holocaust survivers also voted for McCain at the highest rate.
Well, I didn’t see that coming.
I would have thought “the issues” would be a relatively uncontroversial answer, but maybe not. Whether most Jews are ‘true Jews’ or not doesn’t affect this topic.
Really, Philster. Find some better friends.
tradition there parents voted that way and own of the only connections with Judaism is following their parents and grandparent voting patterns even when the people who their following never would have voted for the current democratic party in every single election.
for example the leaders of the first Jewish modern boycott (1902 Kosher Meat boycott) when the price went back to normal they went back to being normal housewifes. Could you imagine today left wing jews Jewish people boycotting the price of Kosher Meat. To the Jewish activist what was important was Kosher Meat but to their future followers even a generation later the price gauging was class warfare and a generation after that the issues were less relevant then the method.
I’m skeptical that a lot of people who you’ve already described as assimilated and ‘not true Jews’ are voting for the Democrats just because their parents and grandparents did and tradition is important in Judaism. And both parties have changed over time. I doubt a lot of Republicans from 90 or 100 years ago would support today’s Republican Party.
The Immigration bill of 1924 was one of the major reasons why jews became dems in addition to Coolidge’s refusing to condem the Klan. Another factor was the Upstate (mostly) Republicans fighting to keep the Blue Laws which was one of the major problems for jew immigrants. (the reason that was used to fight this was the Separation of church and state and it’s current usage of things like same gender marriage would be shocked and outraged that their fighting to keep sabbath and not having their children missionized would turn in to something as disgusting as what it did.) Most 1st generation jews coudn’t care at all about separation of church and state but only about the reasons they argued it as opposed to the second generation jews who very often turned the arguments that their parents used into the issue.
Most Jews who came to this country from 1880-1900 were Orthodox jews and due to many factors when they got here there young children left Orthodoxy and became more assimilated. To prove my point to you one of the classic reasons given why jews were so strongly involved in the labor movement was because of the exploiting in the sweatshops but what they don’t focus on is why Jews originally joined the sweatshops as opposed to the factories like the Irish and Italians mostly did. The reason was because originally a jew could get a job in the sweatshops and keep the sabbath which would have been impossible to take off in a factory. Many Jews therefore voluntary went into the unregulated sweatshops to avoid working on sabbath. Many of the second generation kids grew up in this environment where keeping sabbath would mean you would lose your job. The fact that this was such a big issue at the time is clear from the fact that the 2 names America was referred to at the time was the “golden land” and the “trefa (non kosher) land” Using the argument of separation of church and state was one the main way that they tried to fight the blue laws. But to the jews who were arguing that what they really cared about was Sabbath not separation of church and state (as opposed to even as early the 40’s-60’s where that clearlly really was the issue )
The way this was finally won for the most part was a Jewish labor alliance pushing for the 5 day work week. Even the biggest labor leaders agreed that the only reason they were successful was because of Orthodox Jews (who by this time were no longer even close to the majority of all jews).
The facts are the more involved Jews are with Judaism (and this includes things like donating money to Jewish organizations, visiting Israel, learning about jewish things) the more likely they are to vote Republican in a race and the less you are involved in with Judaism the more likely you never vote for a Republican up until the point of intermarriage and then it starts to swing back towards the center.
That’s very interesting history, but I don’t think it addresses the post you quoted or the issue in general. I will take it for granted that you’re correct that more observant Jews are more likely to vote Republican - several of us already pointed out that the Orthodox are more conservative; that’s not just religion, it’s also culture - what does that prove? The majority of Jews (the not-real Jews, in your estimation) have voted Democrat for a long time and there are reasons for that.
the history is the reason why Jews are voting that way. The reason that most jews vote democrat today despite the fact that Judaism today is more enlined with the Republicans then the democrats is do to the fact that the current values of of most jews are not jewish but based on the immigrants experience with out their reasons. so much so that they vote for candidates that clearly are the antitheses of Jewish values and Jews collective well being. The answer to that is in my opinion best said that from this quote "jews believe in three velts (worlds)
this velt, the next world, and roosevelt. The experiences that were formed and the issues that were most important to the immigrants were replacing traditional jewish values and democratic values replaced them so in essence they replaced their original religion with a new one called the democrat party (many jews would still vote for a super liberal republican over a dixicrat) or a liberalism. and jews have a very long collective memory and hold strongly to tradition.
the fact remains that the more jewish one acts (even factoring out Orthodox jews) the more likely the person is to vote Republican until they assimilate to the point they barley know their jewish when it starts to trend the other way.
I agree that there are reasons for jews voting democrats but don’t look in Judisim for the answers because you won’t find it with out understanding the 1880’s- 1930’s jewish life and the political structure of the time because today’s patterns are not based on anything that currently exists.
Yeah, well, the first-generation Irish had their problems too, but for some reason that has not made Pat Buchanan liberal on immigration.
Conclusion: the Irish don’t care about tradition or their parents.
The Irish didn’t have 6 million people die because of those quotes.
You’re going to have to explain to me exactly how my very observant wife and her Conservative rabbi “barely know their jewish” before that thesis makes any sense.
first of all a Conservative person is not very observant by any measure of the word (Intermarriage is 100% forbidden so if your not jewish that’s just 1 example how shes not observant) (this is dealing in the absolute world (which is the only one that counts) not the relative).
second of all you miss read what I said
"Orthodox jews vote (and this pattern repeats itself on a sub-demographic rate) Republican way more then Conservative Jews and Conservative jews vote Republican more then Reform jews and then once they get to the point where there unaffiliated with any demographic (which usually comes with barley knowing their jewish) then they start tilting back towards Republican.
If you actually believe that, it’s my opinion that this statement makes you basically unqualified to comment on the state of Judaism in the United States in general. Hell, from what I understand of the typical Israeli Jew, it essentially speaks to being totally out of touch with Judaism in general in 2011.
you don’t know what observant means even if 90% of jews intermarry only 10% are then even worthy of a vote.
I’m much more qualified to make a statement then you are considering I know a trillion times more about Judaism then you do (both religiously and culturally).
the facts are that the closer you are to true Judaism the more likely you are to vote Republican.
looking at any measure of rating jewish identity including non ritualistic way the closer to orthodox one is the more likley they have a higher Jewish identity and also the more likely to vote Republican.
Also as a side note the only growing group in American Judaism is Orthodox and demographers predict that within 40 years we will once again be the majority of all jews.
Right now for example in the Baltimore metropolitan area jewish Federation study of all children under 5 years old those from Orthodox families are now the majority. I would expect similar results when the NY Federation study comes out next year (so unlike you I am familial with Judaism today).
The facts also remain that the higher the people of Israels security is the minds of voters the more likely it is they’ll vote Republican (even among the non Orthodox).
Study’s also show that the more likely one gives to jewish Organization the more likely to vote Republican.
Non Orthodox jews today in America care for other jews just as much as the anti semite Steven Wise (yes I know he’s jewish though I doubt you know who he is or what he did) did.
In case your comment was on the Conservative part and not the intermarried part
just so you know I understand what Conservitive “Judaism” means the last Conservative jew who you could even attempt to call observant (though many would highly disagree that he wasn’t a heritic and I’m not even sure how he personally classifies himself) is David Weiss Levni and he left them and founded his own movement.