Several readers questioned whether Jews really give half of all money raised by the Democratic Party. I’ve seen this figure quoted for years, and it seems well-accepted. Here, for example, is the Washington Post in December: “Jews provided at least half the money donated to the DNC in the 1998 and 2000 election cycles”. Another Post article, however, qualifies this by noting this refers solely to donations by individual donors, and does not take into account corporate and labor union donations, which have been, to say the least, substantial.
Some of the readers who wrote to me fear that mentioning such figures will stoke anti-Semitism. In my view, the high levels of Jewish participation in political activism is nothing to be ashamed of (though I’m not thrilled with many of the directions that activism tends to take), and, indeed, should be a badge of honor. As full, first-class citizens of the U.S., Jewish individuals have just as much right to donate to candidates as anyone else–they aren’t doing so as part of a shadowy Jewish conspiracy, but as publicly-committed Democrats or Republicans who are also Jewish. Good for them!
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