February 24, 2003
U.S. Jews taking political right turn
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--In increasing numbers, Jews are beginning to associate themselves with the Republican Party and politically conservative views, according to a new survey.
___The survey, which was conducted in November and December and released to the Jewish newspaper The Forward in mid-January, found the younger generation of Jews is more willing than their older counterparts to consider migrating to the right.
___A striking finding from the survey is that almost half the Jews who voted for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election said they were uncertain whether they would do the same today.
___Because the survey, which had a margin of error of 3 percent, was taken when Gore was still considered the Democratic front-runner for 2004, it was significant that only 37 percent said they would choose Gore over President Bush in 2004, compared with 71 percent who voted for Gore in 2000.
___The candidacy of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., which was announced after the survey had been completed, would affect the ratio, however, with 57 percent saying they would vote for Lieberman in 2004, 14 percent for Bush and 29 percent uncertain.
___Other findings highlighted a generation gap.
___When asked, "Are you a Democrat or a Republican?" 11 percent of respondents over 65 said they were Republicans, while 26 percent of Jews under 35 said the same.
___On a question about whether respondents considered themselves to be liberal or conservative, the age issue was less marked, but a gender gap emerged, with 20 percent of women saying they're conservative as opposed to 30 percent of men.
___The survey was conducted by questionnaire, with 1,386 Jews from across the United States participating. It was funded by the Jewish education department of the Jewish Agency for Israel in cooperation with the Florence G. Heller/JCCA Research Center.
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