New Gallup Poll: Jews’ Preference Gap for Obama over Romney Biggest Yet

NJDC — June 8, 2012 – 2:56 pm | Barack Obama | Election 2012 | Mitt Romney | Polls Comments (0) Add a comment

Obama Doing Better Among Jews Today Than Against McCain at Same Time in 2008

Gallup today released new poll findings regarding the Jewish and Mormon communities (”Mormons Widely Favor Romney; Jewish Voters Back Obama”). The bottom line of Gallup’s findings reflect what poll after poll has found—that American Jews overwhelmingly support President Obama, as they have continuously since before he was elected President. Gallup also found that Jews are dramatically more supportive of President Obama than all registered voters—18 percent more Jews support Obama over Romney than among the general electorate.

But perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll was the gap between Jewish voters’ preferences for President Obama and Mitt Romney. Every time this question is asked, the gap in American Jews’ preference for Obama over Romney appears larger and larger. In an AJC survey in 2011, it was 50/32 (an 18-point gap). In 2012, according to AJC, it was 61/28 (a 33-point gap). Today, here via Gallup, it’s 64/29—a whopping 35 point gap. This just demonstrates that the more American Jews get to know Mitt Romney, the less they like him—and the more they get to know Barack Obama, the more they support him. The trend among American Jews and President Obama is only going one way during 2012—favorably up; conversely, the trend among American Jews and Mitt Romney is only going down.

These findings once again give the lie to the myth that the Jewish vote is shifting rightward.

Note: Where Gallup describes the small fall-off in Jewish preference numbers, they are actually comparing October-November of 2008 with April-June of 2012. Jews—like so many dedicated constituencies—“come home” as elections approach, and indeed most Americans are not focused on the candidates, as it’s not yet even Labor Day. Comparing spring, 2012 numbers with November, 2008 figures is like comparing apples and light bulbs. When one compares apples to apples—April of 2008 to April-June of 2012, via Gallup—President Obama is doing even better among Jews against Mitt Romney today (64/29, a 35-point gap) than he was doing at the same time in 2008 against John McCain (61/32, a 29-point gap). 

Comments

There are no comments for this entry