WE CHOOSE THE CHOSEN:

Poll finds strong US Christian support for Israel (Michael Freund, Oct. 10, 2002, Jerusalem Post)

Poll results released this week by Stand for Israel, a project of the International Federation of Christians and Jews, indicate that 62% of US Christian conservatives support Israel and its policies. [...]

One of the poll's more interesting findings was that support for Israel among Republicans is sharply higher than among Democrats, even though many American Jews identify more closely with the Democratic Party. Among Democrats, just 46% said they supported Israel, as opposed to 67% of Republicans.

The survey also revealed that President George W. Bush is making significant headway among Jewish voters, with 81% of Jews viewing Bush as a strong supporter of Israel and 46% of them saying they are more likely to vote for him based on the way he is handling the war on terror. Even though Bush garnered less than 20% of the Jewish vote in the 2000 elections, the poll found that 53% of American Jews now have a favorable impression of him.

It's necessarily an anecdotal impression, but it seems like older Jews, say in their sixties and seventies, find it impossible to imagine voting Republican, even if they'll grudgingly admit that President Bush is better than they thought he'd be. But the generation behind them, folks in their thirties and forties, seem to be unabashedly trending Republican. One would think this is a trend that will accelerate as the Israeli/Jewish demographic problems (noted below) inevitably push Jews further to the Right on social/religious issues. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 10, 2002 4:18 PM