In this recent column, conservative writer David Frum points out that Margaret Thatcher represented a heavily Jewish constituency, had numerous Jewish advisers and cabinet members, and won the Jewish vote in her electoral campaigns as leader of the Conservative Party.
These are not new revelations. As I pointed out in this post, which cites Thatcher’s success with British Jews along with other examples, the US pattern of Jewish voters overwhelmingly supporting the political left is unusual relative to other English-speaking democracies. In Britain, Canada, and Australia, Jews either disproportionately vote for right of center parties or at least do so at roughly the same rate as the gentile population. Some of the conservative politicians supported by Jews in these countries are not as far to the right on economic and foreign policy issues as the US Republican Party. But that certainly wasn’t true of Thatcher, or some of the others. These patterns undermine claims that there is some sort of general Jewish affinity for the left. Even in the United States, Russian immigrant Jews (about 12% of the Jewish population), vote overwhelmingly Republican.
As I explained in this series of posts, native-born American Jews’ unusual voting patterns are in large part the result of the link between the Republicans and the Religious Right, which many Jews see as anti-Semitic, and as seeking to establish Christianity as a quasi-official religion. Many Jews also dislike that movement’s extreme social conservatism. Jewish opinion doesn’t differ much from the national average on economic policy, but Jews are much more socially liberal than gentiles. Conservative parties elsewhere in the English-speaking world have fewer Religious Right connections than the Republicans and are less socially conservative than they are.
Absent the Religious Right, American Jews would not suddenly all become loyal Republicans. But they would probably divide their votes between the parties much more evenly than is the case today.
UPDATE: As I noted in my very first post on the subject, I am well aware that Jews disproportionately voted Democratic even before the rise of the Religious Right. But that does not explain why they continue to be overwhelmingly Democratic today, even as many other groups that were part of the New Deal Democratic coalition have become much more evenly divided:
I should note that in my view the Religious Right factor is what explains the overwhelming dominance of liberalism among American Jews today. It does not explain their support for the Democratic Party in earlier periods (e.g. – from the 1930s to the 1950s), when the political situation was very different and Jews themselves were much poorer then they became later. Many other groups were overwhelmingly Democratic at the high point of the New Deal coalition (e.g. – Catholics, “white ethnics,” etc.) but became far less so as they became more affluent and the political landscape changed. Strikingly, the Jews did not change similarly, and I believe that the Religious Right factor is a crucial reason why they didn’t.
A. Zarkov says:
As I explained in this series of posts, native-born American Jews’ unusual voting patterns are in large part the result of the link between the Republicans and the Religious Right, …
That link was not there before circa 1970, yet Jews still voted for Democrats. For example, the Jews were big supporters of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 and 1956 elections when the GOP had no association even with the South let alone born-again Baptists.
Many of the Jews who immigrated to New York City in the early 1920s were Mensheviks fleeing Russia and the Ukraine. They brought both communism and socialism with them and passed these ideas along to their children. I grew up with these people. I know them well. Their support for Democrats, Socialists, Communists has nothing to do with the Christian Right. That’s a modern excuse to mask the real origins of Jewish allegiance to the left.
January 20, 2012, 3:36 pmSteve says:
The Republican Party may be closely aligned with fundamentalist Christianity today, but it wasn’t always so. The Jews of FDR’s day mostly supported FDR because people of their socioeconomic class tended to support FDR, not because they thought Wendell Willkie would make their kids pray to Jesus.
January 20, 2012, 3:37 pmCrunchy Frog says:
Considering the Religious Right is the best friend that Jews and Israel have, it’s not the wisest course of action to align with a left wing that is becoming more and more overtly antisemitic.
January 20, 2012, 3:40 pmbailey says:
Isn’t the religion of American Jews leftism and pretty much unlimited abortion on demand, with the latter being the only thing truly sacred and beyond reproach? Is religion even a moving force with American Jews? They don’t seem to mind anti-semitism from the left, so that great Christian bugaboo is just window dressing.
January 20, 2012, 3:43 pmbailey says:
But, but, that hypothetical Christian wants to make all Jews Christians at some date in the future. That’s much worse than the left which allies itself with those who want to kill you today.
January 20, 2012, 3:45 pmTravis says:
Someone who says “the religion of American Jews (is) leftism and pretty much unlimited abortion on demand, with the latter being the only thing truly sacred and beyond reproach” doesn’t have much room to call anyone else an anti-Semite.
January 20, 2012, 3:51 pmOne Generation From the Shtetl says:
There is hostility among American Jews to dismantling the welfare state, as it’s viewed as necessary to protect and help the unfortunate. Moreover, many Jews, like other leftists, falsely believe that unregulated free market capitalism is predatory and necessarily injurious to the poor, so many American Jews are for a welfare state that regulates free market capitalism. They sincerely believe that leftist economic policies help the poor. This is all in addition to the hostility against theocratic homophobic social conservatives, and especially any attempts to restrict abortion on demand. Since I believe that the welfare state and regulation harms the poor, I’m a bleeding heart libertarian.
January 20, 2012, 4:09 pmJohn Herbison says:
I can recall when the Ku Klux Klan in 1980 endorsed Ronald Reagan’s candidacy for president, and Governor Reagan (wisely) repudiated the endorsement. Bill Wilkinson, then Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was reported to have said in response that Reagan cannot repudiate the Klan without repudiating the entire platform of the Republican Party.
January 20, 2012, 4:10 pmMark says:
I used to be mildly against the right to choose, but seeing the types it pisses off, I think I am heading the other way.
PS to bailey: The Evangelical nutcases want to see the Jews die, too–just as soon as the right war can be framed for it, to bring Jesus back. With friends like that….
January 20, 2012, 4:12 pmSteve says:
Your opinion is noted, but most Jews don’t see the Religious Right as anything close to their best friend.
January 20, 2012, 4:14 pmNessuno says:
Are you calling bailey an anti-Semite, or are you just equating the act of labeling someone a leftist with labeling them anti-Semitic?
The level of absurdity is too high for me to follow.
January 20, 2012, 4:15 pmgooners says:
Is suggesting that Jewish Americans vote Republican because the Republican Party is more friendly to Israel different than calling someone an Israel-firster?
January 20, 2012, 4:19 pmElliott says:
Link?
January 20, 2012, 4:25 pmgab says:
I just figured it was because American Jews were smarter and better educated than the population at large.
January 20, 2012, 4:29 pmdb says:
Prof. Ken Wald from the University of Florida had an article on the disparity between American Jews and the rest of the world in the Heritage (Orlando’s Jewish newspaper) that ran today. It doesn’t appear to be online yet but if it does show up, their website is: http://heritagefl.com/
January 20, 2012, 4:32 pmFreeMind says:
In Israel also those of secular and Ashkenazi background usually vote more left-wing and liberal than the Sephardi and Russian immigrants
January 20, 2012, 4:35 pmMDJD from NY says:
I disagree with Prof. Somin’s view of why Jews vote left. Eastern European Jews have voted left ever since arriving in this country. There are multiple reasons why this voting pattern began. These include:
1. Most American Jews left the Russian and Austro-Hungarian monarchies between 1880 and WWI. These governments were not particulary friendly toward Jews. In pre-WW I Europe, right-wing parties in contintental Europe tended to be nationalistic, Christian, and anti-Jewish. Russia was even worse; the anti-Jewish nature of the Czarist government is well known. So Jews with any interest in political particpation were on the left. Furthermore, the Jews who left Europe tended to be less religious than those who stayed, and were likely to espouse left wing views. There is a strong correlation between views of parents and children.
2. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe tended to settle in urban areas, and to be pooor and working class. depended on Democratic politics and trade unions to advance their interests.
3. The Republican party, and those who belonged to it, was not especially welcoming of Jews. In politics, the Democrats provided a more inviting avenue for Jewish participation. The only Jew who served in the Eisenhower Cabinet, for example, was Lewis Strauss, an anti-Zionist of German-Jewish stock that immigrated well before 1880 for the most part. There was a great social divide betweeen these Jews and the vast majority, who were Eastern European. Strauss was one of three Eisenhower Commerce secretaries. In contrast, Kennedy immediately appointed Arthur Goldberg and Abe Ribicoff to his cabinet; they were scions of the less prestigious and more numerous Eastern European Jewish community.
4. For a variety of historical and social reasons, Jews tended to be socially liberal. The civil rights movement, the women’s movement, etc., have resonated with Jews, and these have been movements situated on the left. Republicans (and Southern Democrats) tended to oppose civil rights legislation during the 1950′s, for example.
It is true that many Jews on the left are suspicious of the religious Right, but this is a simplistic explanation for Jewish voting patterns. I don’t think Jews connect that well with social and economic moderates like McCain and Romney. Chris Christie, a moderate who defeated a more conservative Republican in the primary, only received 38% of the Jewish vote, despte Jon Corzine’s track record and unpopularity.
January 20, 2012, 4:35 pmBob from Ohio says:
Absent the Religious Right,… the GOP would be a hopeless minority party like it was before the 1980s.
The turn of the Religious Right into strong GOP supporters post Roe v. Wade turned a party capable of only competing for president into a true challenger to Democratic supremacy.
I’d like my co-religionists to vote GOP but if they want to be afraid of bogeymen, so be it. 1% of the population confined mainly to Dem strongholds is not worth alienating the single largest group in the party. Especially when the reason the 1% is “afraid” is totally bogus.
January 20, 2012, 4:36 pmJeff the Baptist says:
Have you looked the relationship between Reform Judaism and political affiliation? American Jews are largely Reform, but internationally this not the case. I know there are a lot more political and even social conservatives among the Orthodox Jews I know than among my Reform in-laws.
January 20, 2012, 4:36 pmIlya Somin says:
That link was not there before circa 1970, yet Jews still voted for Democrats. For example, the Jews were big supporters of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 and 1956 elections when the GOP had no association even with the South let alone born-again Baptists.
I covered this in my earlier posts on the subject. Jewish support for the Democrats in the mid-20th century was the result of very different factors than their support for them today. The question is why Jews did not become less Democratic over time, as many other groups did.
January 20, 2012, 4:42 pmIlya Somin says:
Have you looked the relationship between Reform Judaism and political affiliation? American Jews are largely Reform, but internationally this not the case.
This is misleading because Reform Judaism is, today, a mostly American movement with little international presence (except perhaps in Canada). However, Jews in other wealthy democracies are disproportionately secular and socially liberal, much like the Reform Jews are. Yet that doesn’t prevent many of them from voting for conservative parties and politicians.
January 20, 2012, 4:44 pmbailey says:
There was, of course, the recent rabbi who thought a Tim Tebow loss would result in pogroms in Amerikka. That is the kind of sick in the head thinking that left wing jews imagine as being somehow profound? Do you really think that folks with the twisted beliefs of that learned teacher are actually rational? Those same lefties then probably go home and watch Al Sharpton on MSNBC, someone who actually incited violence against Jews. How about the left wingers who crawl out of the sewers when Bernstein has a post on jewish issues here? Those are the natural allies of left wing jews? Sorry to be insensitive but, other than abortion, what values are held sacred?
January 20, 2012, 4:45 pmIlya Somin says:
I disagree with Prof. Somin’s view of why Jews vote left. Eastern European Jews have voted left ever since arriving in this country. There are multiple reasons why this voting pattern began.
Not true of recent Russian immigrant Jews. But I get taht you are referring to early 20th century immigrants.
These include:
1. Most American Jews left the Russian and Austro-Hungarian monarchies between 1880 and WWI. These governments were not particulary friendly toward Jews. In pre-WW I Europe, right-wing parties in contintental Europe tended to be nationalistic, Christian, and anti-Jewish. Russia was even worse; the anti-Jewish nature of the Czarist government is well known. So Jews with any interest in political particpation were on the left. Furthermore, the Jews who left Europe tended to be less religious than those who stayed, and were likely to espouse left wing views. There is a strong correlation between views of parents and children.
2. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe tended to settle in urban areas, and to be pooor and working class. depended on Democratic politics and trade unions to advance their interests.
These points applied equally to the Irish, Italians, and other groups. Yet they have, over time, become far less monolithically Democratic. The question here is why the Jews didn’t follow the same pattern as other “white ethnics.”
January 20, 2012, 4:47 pmcaptcrisis says:
Jews are pretty much constant everywhere.
The only reason they appear to vote more centrist in the countries you cite is because those countries are more left-wing in general.
January 20, 2012, 4:49 pmMDJD from NY says:
“Jews” and “Israel” are two different entities.
Jews to whom religion is a serious matter may well conclude that Republican views on the appropriate role of religion are more congenial than Democrat views.
As for Israel, mayn Jews believe are sympathetic to Israel, and believe that the United States should be, to the extent that this does not significantly jeopardize Aemrican interests. This does not make one an “Israel-firster.” Many Democrats (though a minority) and some Republicans are hostile toward Israel, and are symnpathetic to the claims of at least some of Israel’s enemies. Carol McKinney. Marcy Kaptur, Grover Norquist, and Ron Paul are examples of this. The term “Israel-firster” implies that a person prioritizes Israel’s interests over America’s interests. This is not the same thing as being sympathetic to Israel. Why are you confuting these two positions?
January 20, 2012, 4:50 pmSarcastro says:
It’s not antisemitism if you just hate American Jews!
January 20, 2012, 4:51 pmSarcastro says:
Because not liking Israeli policy means you hate Jews.
That sure will confuse a lot of my Jewish friends!
January 20, 2012, 4:53 pmJust Dropping By says:
Not according to Kopel in the “Israel-Firster” thread from a few days ago. According to him, “Israel-Firster” is an anti-Semitic term, which makes sense only if you accept the premise that “Jews” and “Israel” are synonyms.
January 20, 2012, 5:01 pmAnon says:
See Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel. It was this communist streak that resulted in Jews finding acceptance in the Democratic party during the FDR era, and the allegiance has stuck. In fairness, anti-Semitism (real and perceived) among Christians has probably also played a role. The Republican friendship with Israel is more recent and is mostly tied to diminished anti-Semitism and Israel being seen as the good guy in the Arab conflict.
January 20, 2012, 5:04 pmAnon says:
See also Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof.
January 20, 2012, 5:08 pmThorley Winston says:
Really, the entire platform?
January 20, 2012, 5:11 pmyankee says:
I’ll assume it’s true that Jews in other democracies tend to be “right of center,” but the center in other democracies tends to be well to the left of the center in the U.S. Obamacare is a “left-wing” position in the U.S., but in Europe the same policy would be so far right of center that not even right-wing parties would support it.
So maybe it’s not that European Jews are different from American Jews, but that the European center is different from the American center.
January 20, 2012, 5:16 pmptt says:
“Many”? Why not identify which groups you’re talking about. You certainly don’t mean blacks. You don’t mean gays and lesbians. You probably mean Italians, Poles, Catholics in general. White Catholics, that is.
The main reason is that the overwhelmingly white, Protestant GOP of the past isn’t quite as anti-Catholic as it used to be and not nearly so bigoted towards others of shared European descent. It’s pretty hard to find a Wasp club that bans Italians anymore. Not quite so hard to find one that still bans Jews. There are hardly any left, of course, but things like that leave a strong impression.
January 20, 2012, 5:16 pmSarcastro says:
Anecdote -> Generalization -> stereotype -> hatred of the group.
But that’s not bigotry, cause it’s only about ‘left-wing Jews!’
Well, that’s okay then.
January 20, 2012, 5:21 pmClark says:
Fornication. Thanks for asking.
January 20, 2012, 5:23 pmPatent Lawyer says:
I’d suggest a lot of it is geographic isolation and the resulting effect. Of America’s 6.5 million Jews, a full third are in the New York metro area, and another sixth are in the retiree zone of Miami and the affuent parts of L.A. These are all extremely left wing cities culturally.
From personal anecdote, I was raised in Cleveland’s Jewish community, my mother’s family is from Georgia’s, and my father’s is from LA and NY. Everyone on my mother’s side is some degree of Republican, with my maternal grandfather being somewhat right of Rush Limbaugh. My father’s family is moderate to left. The Cleveland Jewish community appears reasonably divided politically–my conservative movement synagogue seemed about evenly divided. On the other hand, the Jewish girl I dated in college, from Livingston, NJ, had never met a Republican Jew before college, nor had she met a non-New York area Jew.
This matches my observation from working as an intern at the Republican Jewish Coalition, where support came disproportionally from non-New York Jewish communities. And now that I’m in New York, and looking for a non-Orthodox congregation to join, they all feature sermons positioned on the extreme left–I heard one lay member explain how a passage from Deuteronomy required us all to actively fight global warming.
In other words, Jews vote primarily on the left in the United States because Jews primarily live in insular, leftist communities.
January 20, 2012, 5:31 pmThorley Winston says:
I felt much the same way when I considered myself to be an atheist.
January 20, 2012, 5:32 pmDavid M. Nieporent says:
It was David Bernstein, not Kopel (we don’t all look alike), and your argument makes no sense. Jews and Israel being synonyms has nothing at all to do with Israel-Firster being anti-semitic.
There is a longstanding anti-semitic trope of Jews being disloyal. (Think, e.g., the Dreyfus affair.) Calling someone an Israel-firster is saying that the person puts Israel’s interests ahead of the U.S. — i.e., that he is not loyal to the U.S. That is, playing to the trope.
January 20, 2012, 5:41 pmA. Zarkov says:
Welcome to New York City! Now you know what I grew up with. The secular and Reform Jews can be pretty wacko at times. Try a Conservative Temple. When my daughter and I attend services we keep a “communist count” meaning the number of times the Rabbi makes extreme left statements. It’s great fun.
January 20, 2012, 6:05 pmA. Zarkov says:
I commented on this in 2009.
Irving Kristol addressed this very subject in his essay of liberalism and American Jews. The original appeared in Commentary Magazine, but you can read it for free here. At the outset he posed the question as why Jews have the status of Episcopalian Wasps, but vote like low income Hispanics. Indeed. It’s perfectly rational for Hispanics to want an expanding federal government because, for the most part, they don’t have to pay for it. But why should Jews support the largess they don’t get? Other groups have shed their urban liberalism as they move up the economic ladder– why do Jews and pretty much Jews alone cling to it?
January 20, 2012, 6:11 pmgooners says:
I see over and over again Republicans highlight Israel when courting Jewish voters. I very rarely see any other issue mentioned. It seems to me they are implying that Jewish people put Israel ahead of other issues. I recently read here that implying Jewish Americans put Israel first is offensive. So are the Republicans making that argument offensive? Is it possible that Republicans have trouble attracting minority voters because even when they try to reach out they end up using language that drives people away?
January 20, 2012, 6:14 pmRandy says:
I don’t see the left wing as anti-semitic at all. There are people on both the left and right who are critical of the government of Israel, but I no one who maintains any animous towards jews. If you have any examples, please bring the forward.
As to whether the religious right is the “best friend” of Israel, it is true that the religious right wants to maintain a free Israel, but it has nothing to do with it being a place for jews, but rather because the religious right has a bizarre notion that the second coming of Jesus is predicated upon the existence of Israel.
Considering the fact that they believe jews must, upon the second coming, either convert to Christianity or be thrown into a lake of fire and eternal damnation, I would hardly say those are the actions of a “best friend.”
January 20, 2012, 6:25 pmleo marvin says:
Did those other groups that have become less Democratic remain the principle or co-principle targets of neo-Nazis, the KKK, the John Birch Society and other extreme right wing hate groups?
January 20, 2012, 6:39 pmEd Grinberg says:
Cynthia McKinney
January 20, 2012, 6:53 pmupsidedownhebrew says:
I’m a Jew born in Australia to Jewish parents born in Australia and my mother’s grandparents were Jews born in Australia. I just note that to show that for Jews, my family has been in Australia a long time, so any political positions they have aren’t based on something from the “old country”.
Like in the US, Jews in Australia are above average exonomically as a group. Jews in Australia vote Liberal(name of Australia’s right-of-center party) way more then Jews in America vote Republican. Currently there are 2 MPs who are Jewish. One is from the Liberal party and one is from Labor. The Labor MP represents the most Jewish electorate in Victoria, maybe Australia, and the Liberal MP represents a “blue-ribbon” liberal seat which is probably more Jewish than average but not heavily Jewish.
The Liberals aren’t as right wing socially or economically as the GOP. My uncle for example hates Labor but would never vote for a Republican in the US because he thinks they are crazy. I don’t know if voting Liberal and voting GOP are comparable. Many people who vote Liberal would, I think, not vote for a Republican in a contest between an average Democrat and average Republican. That is not just for Jews.
One thing in Australia that compels Jews to vote Liberal nowadays is Zionism.
January 20, 2012, 7:14 pmLisa says:
Perhaps some of the answer lies in Judaism itself, in the Tanakh, and the Talmud, and other rabbinic writings. Focus on this world, on integrating the individual into the society, and on proper actions to make things better. In addition to the communism, socialism coming over from the old world, there’s a lot in the social structure and laws of Judaism that’s inherently liberal.
January 20, 2012, 7:29 pmgeokstr says:
Randy, please review the returns from a simple google search on “anti-semitism ows”. The reason you don’t perceive anti-semitism and the Occupy movement is addressed there – because the “unbiased” “objective” “news” media actively covered it up, you know, those same media who managed to perceive wisps of “racism” emanating from the penumbras of every Tea Party sign.
And how can you follow this blog actively and say that there is no anti-semitism on the left? On every, and I mean every, post on the barbarism of Islam, the Religion of Peace that slaughters Jews and their children everywhere they can, you’ll find every, and I mean every, leftist commenter here, many of whom are themselves Jewish, making excuses and apologizing for the Islamists.
It’s all Bush’s, and Cheney’s and Palin’s fault, apparently.
January 20, 2012, 7:35 pmTom Rigid says:
Ilya, this is a pretty simple history to follow: the big wave of Ashkenazi immigration, from 1880-1914, brought to the US a population which had been marginalized and abused by nativist majorities. In the US they were marginalized and abused by nativist majorities, but perhaps a little less so, and with much greater opportunity for economic and social mobility.
These Jews, outsiders by experience, passed along to their children a strong outsider sentiment which was reinforced by the pervasive anti-semitism and racism of American society. While both political parties were dominated by WASPs throughout the pre-Brownera, Democrats earned the Jewish vote in two simple ways: they represented the interests of the urban poor, which included most of the Jewish immigrants, and a Democratic president sent American soldiers to fight Hitler while the mostly Republican “America Firsters” screamed for isolationism.
As Jews have entered the upper echelons of the American economy the Republican party has descended into a Southern-based race-baiting coalition of nativists and monied interests. I think the ugly face of the former is more than sufficient to discourage most American Jews in the latter group from joining with the modern GOP.
Also, I agree with other commenters who have pointed out that a conservative Jew in the UK or France can support a conservative government which is still quite liberal/progressive by American standards.
Finally, the newer Russian Jews seem very reactionary to me, and I’m inclined (simplistically) to include you, Mr. Somin, in that category. My apologies for this.
January 20, 2012, 7:55 pmleo marvin says:
I see a bumper sticker:
“Vote Democrat. It’s not just for Jews!”
January 20, 2012, 8:01 pmIlya Somin says:
Jews are pretty much constant everywhere.
The only reason they appear to vote more centrist in the countries you cite is because those countries are more left-wing in general.
As I noted in the post, many of the conservative politicians are as much or more conservative on non-social issues as is the GOP in the US. Thatcher is the best example, but not the only one. Stephen Harper’s Canada, for example, pursued more free market policies than the GOP under Bush, yet Harper enjoyed considerable Jewish support.
January 20, 2012, 8:40 pmIlya Somin says:
this is a pretty simple history to follow: the big wave of Ashkenazi immigration, from 1880–1914, brought to the US a population which had been marginalized and abused by nativist majorities. In the US they were marginalized and abused by nativist majorities, but perhaps a little less so, and with much greater opportunity for economic and social mobility.
This applies to many other groups, too, including the Irish for example. And yet they are not monolithically Democratic today.
These Jews, outsiders by experience, passed along to their children a strong outsider sentiment which was reinforced by the pervasive anti-semitism and racism of American society. While both political parties were dominated by WASPs throughout the pre–Brownera, Democrats earned the Jewish vote in two simple ways: they represented the interests of the urban poor, which included most of the Jewish immigrants, and a Democratic president sent American soldiers to fight Hitler while the mostly Republican “America Firsters” screamed for isolationism.
The America First movement included many leftists, including Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas. Be that as it may, these points apply equally well to various other ethnic groups in the US, and also to Jews in the other countries I mentioned (who were also excluded by the gentile establishment, including its right wing).
January 20, 2012, 8:44 pmck says:
To reiterate what others have said above (minus the sneering), in America…
1) …people who live in urban areas tend to vote Democratic.
2) …highly educated people tend to vote Democratic.
3) …Jews tend to be highly educated and live in urban areas.
QED
January 20, 2012, 8:52 pmanon says:
I think Tom, Lisa, and others have pretty much nailed it.
My father flew above Germany in a B-17. When I knew him, he was taking us to support strikers, watching PBS, and grueling out a lower middle class life. Always interested in books and education, and taking us to shul.
I’m not sure how that lines up with Republicans as I know the party, oh yeah, it’s 180 degrees opposite.
And there’s enough disgusting race baiting and class warfare in your party now to keep me away, even though I have to struggle with more anti-semitic idiots than I would prefer. But your party hasn’t shown itself to be free of anti-semitism, far from it.
If you assume people are rational Ilya, the question is, why *aren’t* you a liberal?
January 20, 2012, 8:58 pmMDJD from NY says:
The question is why Jews who left the working class remained politically liberal. Irish and Italians don’t have it in their cultural consciousness that self-styled conservatives were their oppressors on the basis of their ethnicity and, perhaps, their DNA. Also, until recently, Catholicism was closely aligned with social and political conservatism. Indeed, and especially at a local level (as I know from having grown up in Queens), there was a significant element of anti-Jewishness associated with Catholicism in some circles. Jews view themselves as potential victims of racist oppression in a way that Irish and Italians don’t. I’m not saying this is accurate; the country has changed. I don’t approve of it; I’m Jewish, a registered Republican, and right of center politically. I’m saying the hostility of those on the right is what many Jews experienced and feel in their gut.
January 20, 2012, 9:00 pmMDJD from NY says:
No– it makes sense if you believe that people who use the term are trying to cast “Jews” and “Israel” as synonyms. If an Armenian-American whose relatives perished in Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century opposes close American ties toward Turkey, or if a Woodrow Wilson chooses the side of his ancestral homeland in WWI, we don’t accuse them of placing thier ancestral homeland ahead of the US.
January 20, 2012, 9:07 pmMDJD from NY says:
True, and good point. Furthermore, if you want to succeed in politics in many such metropolitan areas, or if your occupation requires that you do a lot of business with state and local government, it helps to be a Democrat.
January 20, 2012, 9:11 pmMDJD from NY says:
Do you regard Jews having sympathy for Israel as being the same as their putting Israel ahead of the United States? Do you regard Republicans’ highlighting their shared sympathy with Israel as agreeing with this conflation? Was Republican verbal support for the Republic of Georgia at the time of the Russian invasion indicative of putting Georgian interests ahead of Americans?
You and a number of other commentators seem to want to conflate Jewish sympathy with the one Jewish state with Jewish dual loyalty or lack of loyalty to America. Look in the mirror and ask yourself why you equate sympathy with Israel with disloyalty to America.
January 20, 2012, 9:17 pmRoger says:
It is funny how no one wants to explain why Jews vote Democrat. Most of what Ilya says is to shoot down other theories. He mentions the Religious Right, but that is not it, as others here have explained. And it is not that Jews are urban and educated, either.
January 20, 2012, 9:25 pmMark Field says:
Well, in fairness, there are some examples of that.
Apologies for the Huffington Post link. It was handy.
January 20, 2012, 9:48 pmEric Rasmusen says:
A commenter said,
Come to think of it, are Episcopalians overwhelmingly left-wing too? The denomination certainly is. That might be part of the same New York insularity (in its WASP, more geographically dispersed version) that another commenter mentioned.
January 20, 2012, 10:16 pmTom Rigid says:
Ilya, Jews never fled a Jewish state to come to the US in the way the Irish fled Ireland or the Italians fled Italy. In this way the Jewish immigrants were bringing with them a fundamentally different experience than the other groups, in which they remembered the deep harm their communities had suffered from emergent European nationalism.
A post-WWII Russian Jewish immigrant may not understand this experience; that’s not for me to say. But the nativist rural core of the modern Republican party is an ugly thing for most American Jews, given the history of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
Also, it was FDR and the Democrats who pushed the US into lend-lease; only 24 Republicans voted for it. Token socialists who opposed the war on “internationalist” or pacifist grounds shouldn’t be used to give cover to the party of isolationism–that’s just shoddy history.
January 20, 2012, 11:28 pmRicardo says:
A few more relevant facts:
1. 35% of Jewish adults hold a post-graduate degree compared to around 10% of the overall American adult population, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. People with post-graduate degrees tend to be socially liberal and lean left so its not clear how much of the “Jewish” tendency here might just be a tendency of people with advanced degrees.
2. The fact that most Jews are socially liberal or moderate and apparently take social liberal ideas seriously rules out the possibility of the majority of Jews voting for the GOP. No complicated explanations are needed — there is simply a clash of core ideas.
3. Both political parties are pro-Israel by any objective definition. The differences between the two parties in terms of substantive policy toward Israel are very small in the grand scheme of things.
January 21, 2012, 5:28 am~aardvark says:
Sure, Christian Right is the best friend Jews have in the same sense that a farmer is the best friend a bull has–until he’s led to the slaughterhouse. It makes me wonder, Frog–why is it that you think that Jews have no friends?
Somin:
Somin does not seem to understand that the right wing does not want to turn their country into a “Christian Nation” (irrespectively of whether a Frog thinks this is the best friends Jews can have or not). But there is a simple reason why US Jews are not conservative (except the recent immigrants from Russia and Israel and religious zealots)–they are immigrants and descendants of immigrants and the conservatives won’t let them forget it. This is the same reason why Italians and the Irish were mostly Democrats in the Northeast, until fairly recently. Conservatives have always hated them–if they were not Christians, they hated them as the Other and if they were Christians–well, no other reason is needed there (despite professed friendship). [Just keep remembering that Hitler was supposed to be good for the conservative Jews of Germany because he was going to rid the country of Communists. Despite all that other stuff...]
January 21, 2012, 6:21 amMarian Kechlibar says:
Ricardo: It is well possible that one can be socially liberal (as in, not espousing conservative views on sex etc.), while being distrustful of Big Government and accenting fiscal discipline. That is neither D nor R, but libertarian.
In such situation, I am sort-of puzzled why there are so few American Jewish libertarians. Being highly educated, they should be able to calculate that, say, current growth of sovereign debt is unsustainable.
Maybe it is the type of degrees which matter. People with doctorates from humanities often do not understand the death spiral into which runoff borrowing will get you.
January 21, 2012, 6:22 am~aardvark says:
The greatest irony is that both parties are objectively supporters of Israel, but the parties’ supporters often are not–in fact, they are quite hostile to Israel.
January 21, 2012, 6:23 amRicardo says:
Say what?
Maybe you should ask this question of David Bernstein, Richard Epstein, Ilya Somin, Eugene Volokh (does he still consider himself libertarian?), Randy Barnett or David Kopel? If Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard or Robert Nozick were still alive, they might express puzzlement at the question.
Jews are less than 2% of the U.S. population but I’m willing to bet they are a larger percentage of libertarians. There are probably so few Jewish-American libertarians because there are so few American libertarians.
January 21, 2012, 6:40 amSarcastro says:
Yeah, if you don’t hate Muslims, you must be antisemetic!
I know all my Muslim co-workers can’t stop killing Jews!
January 21, 2012, 1:15 pmOrenWithAnE says:
Stephen Harper also doesn’t oppose abortion and disavowed attempts to roll back gay marriage — both of which are supported by large margins by American and Canadian Jews.
January 21, 2012, 1:42 pmStash says:
All policies aside, the Republicans have a tin ear with respect to the Jewish community, with the only common ground being Israel. After that issue, which has a very strong bipartisan consensus, Republicans strike all the wrong cultural notes.
Political Christianity. Somin is correct to point out the Christian Right as one of those problems. “We want the country governed according to the precepts of our religion” is not a good selling point for those who do not belong to it. Not exactly a marketing plan targeting the Jewish community. Sure, there is usually a nod toward “Judeo-Christian” values, but I have not heard suggestion that we should declare this a “Judeo-Christian” country.
Anti-Intellectualism. There is also a strain of anti-intellectualism in today’s GOP. Sometimes it is framed as anti-elitism. Yet it is plausibly arguable that Jews have the most pro-intellectual culture in the world. Traditionally, the scholar, not the rich guy, was at the top of the social order. (Adlai Stevenson’s intellectualism was a plus in the Jewish community, a minus elsewhere). For example, I don’t think there is a Yiddish disparagement equivalent to “egg-head” or “nerd.” Add the education demographics some discuss above, and this GOP strain of discourse comes off as personal attacks at worst, and culturally alien at best. Another case of bad marketing to this demographic.
Nativism/Nationalist right-wing Populism. The anti-immigration policies are less important than the atmospherics surrounding it. In 2008, the two things that stood out as emblematic were Palin’s “Real Americans” slip, and Guiliani’s use of “cosmopolitan” as an epithet. Appropo of the “Israel-Firster” discussion, the provenance of that term in a derogatory sense is not pretty. Nationalist populism, (which goes hand-in-hand with defining who and who is not a “real American” and the disparagement of the “cosmopolitan”) also has little resonance with Jews, given such movements’ historical associations. Add in the “Christian Nation” undercurrent, and the GOP comes off like a pork salesman at an orthodox temple. Could be a great pitch in general, but he’d be pushing all the wrong rhetorical buttons: “Everybody loves a great pig-roast!” Or more on point: the “War on Christmas.” Why wouldn’t that be a big selling point for conservatism to Jews?
Other Atmospherics. Since Nixon’s successful Southern Strategy, there are the usual flare-ups with consorting with White Citizens Councils, defense of the Confederate Flag and associated nostalgia etc.. (It is true that all this could be said of the Dixiecrats back in the day, but there was a pretty explicit recognition that this was a marriage of convenience and primarily an historical accident. Northern Dems were able to disassociate themselves from their unsavory party members in a way that the current GOP cannot. It doesn’t make it morally different, just more problematic for the GOP from a marketing standpoint.) Hollywood and media bashing can also have unpleasant undertones.
On the other hand, the Dems express embrace of “diversity”, at least in its original meaning, communicates an inclusiveness that the social and cultural signals that sometimes emanate from the GOP do not have.
The anti-semitism on the left is disturbing to most Jews, but, I would argue, perceived as less threatening. Lefty anti-semitism is rarely eliminationist and, contra right-wing (and now Arab) anti-semitism rarely extends the “conspiracy” or “disloyalty” tropes beyond the notion of “unwarranted” support for Israel to every ill, war and disaster in the world. That’s progress of a sort, so I guess that’s why they are called progressives.
Everything else aside, I would argue that if one is in favor of continued US support for Israel, they should be pleased at the happy accident that Jews,a tiny part of the electorate, are an important part of the Dem-liberal coalition. Absent the need to maintain support in the Jewish community, left-wing drift by the Dems might otherwise erode the overwhelming bipartisan consensus. So Crunchy Frog should be grateful that US support for Israel does not hang on a hanging chad.
Finally, I think the underlying reason why Jews are not more libertarian is that social barriers have always been more onerous to Jews than economic ones. Historically, Jews have been able to overcome economic barriers and special burdens. It was social restrictions and exclusions that had to be attacked politically. While libertarianism is probably quite attractive in its social form, its emphasis on economic liberty (which might include the right to discriminate–See Ron Paul)does not resonate so well. Jews’ over-representation in the civil rights movement was not entirely altruistic. They, too, benefited from the legal and cultural changes that opened up neighborhoods, clubs and opportunities. Trading de jure protections for a few less economic burdens might advance an abstract principle of liberty, but I think it would be judged a poor bargain if it legalized notices that no Jews need apply.
January 21, 2012, 7:33 pmCockleCove says:
I think it’s very odd that you say this and yet coyly decline to go public with your own explanation.
January 21, 2012, 11:22 pmOrenWithAnE says:
I’ve tried. Jews strongly favor legal abortion (8:1), gay marriage (5:1), government non interference in morality (7:2), environmental protection (5:1). Why the heck would they vote for a political party that’s pro-life, anti-gay, pro-government-morality and against environmental protection?
January 22, 2012, 4:20 pmA Canadian Observer says:
I always come about 1 week late to discussions…
Harper is a conservative more in the Thatcher/Cameron mould than in the Palin/Gingrich/GW Bush mould.
The Conservatives in Canada did win, for the first time, the Jewish vote in Canada. Stephen Harper has been a very vocal supporter of Israel and that helped. But there are 2 other factors at play here. The Conservative Party is the party of choice for social conservatives BUT they are very marginal in Canadian society overall. Harper has basically thrown them under the bus – he has said that he will NOT tamper with abortion rights and after first campaigning against same-sex marriage has closed the door on the issue. In fact, when it turned out a government official had nullified foreign same-sex marriages, Harper quickly overturned the decision and blamed the previous Liberal government (who implemented the policy) for it!
In spite of Harper’s pro-Israel stance, the Conservatives were viewed with great suspicion by the Jewish community until quite recently. Once it appeared that the Conservatives were really just fiscal conservative managers and the so-cons were marginalized, many socially liberal/economic conservative voters (including Jews) went Conservative.
Note also that the last election was very much a realignment of Canadian politics. Canada is unique in that unlike in Britain and elsewhere Liberalism was never squeezed out by a social democratic, socialist or labor party – until 2011. Jews historically supported the Liberal Party but also played an important role in the social democratic NDP. In the last election, the Liberals (who have been on the decline since 2004) suffered their worst-ever defeat and are now a rump third party, behind the NDP who are now the Official Opposition. Quebec (formerly held by the sovereigntist and social democratic Bloc Quebecois) swung to the NDP en masse, but in English Canada many Liberals voted Conservative to stop the socialists. Still Jews are one of the strongest supporters of the Liberals (in relative terms – no constituency goes majority-Liberal anymore), given that the party has become a sort of boutique third party of affluent urban professionals.
Canadian Jews are every bit as socially liberal as American Jews (and they have a much stronger socialist tradition). If they could have voted in the 2008 they would have gone for Obama over McCain and Palin by a 4-1 margin at least. I would guess about half of Jewish Conservative voters in Canada would vote Democrat in US elections.
Also, now that Harper is going after pensions, he’s going to be losing a lot of support, including from Jews. Plus add to the fact that both the NDP and Liberals are likely to be led by men who with impeccable pro-Israel credentials, and are married to Jewish women, in the 2015 election.
February 1, 2012, 11:50 pm