What Jews Think
The release this month by the American Jewish Committee of its annual survey of American Jewish opinion generated a few headlines with its finding that Hillary Clinton was the favorite contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination. A few newspapers, especially in Israel, delved into a few other notable findings.
For one, the past year saw a slight decline in the percentage of Jews who feel “very close” to Israel, to 30% in 2007 from 37% in 2006. For another, the issue most often selected as the most important in choosing a president next year was “the economy and jobs” at 22%, in contrast to the war in Iraq, cited by just 16%.
Largely unreported were a host of other findings, from immigration reform (an overwhelming 67% favored giving illegals a pathway to citizenship) and energy independence (82% called it “very important”) to increasingly gloomy views of the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
One of the survey’s most intriguing findings, however, went entirely unnoticed. Asked about the issues that will determine their presidential vote next year, a strong plurality of 42% picked either “economy and jobs” or “health care,” the two domestic economic choices offered. By contrast, only 36% picked one of the three Middle East-related suggestions, the war in Iraq (16%), “terrorism and national security” (14%) or “support for Israel” (6%).
Trailing far behind were the survey’s noneconomic domestic choices, immigration (6%), the “energy crisis” (6%) and education (4%). Global warming and the environment were not among the choices, nor was the future of the Supreme Court.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
