A new study has found the roots of conection of the large majority of American Jews to liberalism and found that Jewish voters are even “more pro-choice” than “pro-Israel” when voting booth, but pro-Israel nevertheless.
“This doesn’t make American Jews anti-Israel, on the contrary, they perceive the Democratic Party as taking a strong pro-Israel stance, proving that progressive Zionism is not an oxymoron, ” the findings showed.
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The study by Professor Gil Troy of McGill University, published by Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies at the University of Haifa, found that while American Jewish voters are deep concerned about Israel, they don’t make the Jewish state their top voting priority, and instead focus more on social issues such as whether or not a candidate is pro-choice.
Despite efforts by the Republican Party to reach out to Jewish voters over the last few decades, the “liberal-Jewish-Democratic connection has strengthened not weakened since Ronald Reagan, ” the study said.
“Even though the Republican Party is more pro-Israel than ever, and sometimes more ‘pro-Israel, ’ (however you define that) than the Democratic Party, American Jewish liberalism has become a mentality, a sensibility, an ideology, a cultural identity.”
This is the reason for outsize contributions of Jewish donors to US political campaigns. Jewish donors contributing a whopping 50 percent of funds received by the Democratic Party and 25 percentto the Republican Party, according to Troy.
A survey by the American Jewish Committee on Sept. 13, 61 percent of Jewish voters prefer Democrat Hillary Clinton, while only 19 percent favor Republican Donald Trump. The survey also found that 51 percent of Jewish voters believe that the economy and jobs were their first or second most important issue.
The study also found that American Jews “more than ever” are embracing their liberalism, especially amid the contentious 2016 presidential race.
“The Jewish community remains extremely active in American politics and has achieved real impact on so many levels of the political scene, yet the motivations of the community are varied and complex, ” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “The secret of the community’s political success can be boiled down to an intense desire to improve American society and its role in the world.”
