Democratic Folly

Ha'Aretz reports on the political outlooks of the broad swath of American Jews.

U.S. Jews would overwhelmingly support any major Democratic candidate over President George W. Bush if the election were held today, according to the 2004 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion.

Joe Lieberman, the only Jewish candidate, would defeat Republican Bush by the largest margin, 71 percent to 24 percent, the poll found.

In one-on-one matchups with the president, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, John Kerry and Richard Gephardt would each receive about 60 percent of the Jewish vote, compared to about 30 percent for Bush, according to the survey conducted for the American Jewish Committee and released Monday...

American Jews tend to vote Democrat, and 66 percent said they backed Al Gore in the 2000 race.

Still, Republican leaders have been courting Jews, and the poll did find a slight increase in the percentage who considered themselves Republican, from 9 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2004.

How out of touch are they? Equating the Religious Right with Muslims? Impugning Christians with the broad stroke of Islamic anti-semitism?

Nearly 70 percent said anti-Semitism was a greater threat to Jewish life in the United States than intermarriage, and said that among U.S. religious groups, Muslims and the "Religious Right" were the most anti-Semitic.

Some people will never learn.