Due to the fact that there has been an ongoing air war (see Right from the Left Coast) and even an editorial in the New York Times regarding the impact of the Jewish vote and the lengths that candidates go to in order to influence this very important vote, I decided to research the actual impact of the Jewish vote. Sadly to say, I have concluded that we probably don't matter all that much.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, outside of 1916, 1920, 1956 and 1980, the Jewish people have overwhelmingly voted for the nominee from the Democratic party in every presidential election. Furthermore, according to Jay Lefkowitz (who happens to be a member of my synagogue) in a 2005 article in Commentary Magazine:
"The central fact about the Jewish vote is, after all, not how changeable but how stable it is. American Jews do not merely favor Democrats; they are the second most reliable bloc of Democratic voters in the country, exceeded only by African-Americans."
Based on these two facts, it seems that the Jewish vote is important to elections and has had an impact the success, or failure, of the Democratic nominee. HOWEVER, we must remember another important fact about of the Jewish vote (again pointed out by Lefkowitz):
"American Jews constitute only 3 percent of the voting public"
So, in spite of the fact that we as Jews (and the strong efforts of Sarah Silverman) may think that we are a significant part of the election process and the lengths many candidates go to in order to influence the Jewish vote, we as Jews still don't matter all that much (many do argue that in this election 3% might be significant especially in this election, but I happen to disagree).
[For further reading you may want to see an interesting section on Yahoo Answers regarding this issue]
1 comment:
Even though Jews may be only 3% of the total vote, there are some districts in which a large percentage of the voters are Jews. So an impact is made on a district level. This Article talk about Jews affect on the 2006 election.
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