The Republicans may have swept the midterm congressional elections, but Jews still largely identify as Democrat, despite the party’s lean towards supporting Palestine.
Out of 800 Jewish voters who hit the polls on Tuesday, a survey found that they favored Democrats over Republicans by a large margin: 69 percent-28 percent. The far-left lobbying group J-Street conducted the research.
Although tensions exist right now between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Jewish voters express a higher opinion of the President than the rest of the American public. Fifty-seven percent of poll respondents approved of Obama’s performance, versus the national average of 42 percent.
But Netanyahu received a higher rating: he earned a 61/100 score on a definitive ranking of political personalities, while Obama notched 49/100 among Jewish voters.
In terms of Israeli politics, most responses reflected the leftist viewpoint: that is, opposed to Israeli sovereignty in Judea-Samaria, in favor of a Palestinian state and supporting greater US involvement in the peace process.
The top two issues facing American Jews are the economy (44%) and health care (31%).
In spite of Republican predictions of a swing in Jewish voting patterns, the percentages on Tuesday closely reflected those of the 2012 presidential elections.