Abstract: Most American Jews have been voting Democratic since the late-1920s. In every election since 1948, there has been speculation as to whether Jews’ affinity to the Democratic Party is about to end; but it has displayed remarkable persistence. Yet, more careful examination reveals that there has been variation in Jews’ voting patterns. Partisanship is not static or immutable. Attention to Jewish voting received renewed attention in early 2019 when the Republicans launched a new organization intended to create a Jewish “exodus” from the Democratic Party. This chapter summarizes the recent surge of research on Jews’ politics and supplies great detail on their voting history and voting patterns. Section 2.1 provides a review of the literature. Section 2.2 considers the various factors that have been advanced to explain Jews’ voting. Section 2.3 offers a brief analysis of their voting turnout and their political participation more generally. Section 2.4 presents a lengthy history of their presidential voting, including analysis of voting trends. Section 2.5 focuses on three factors that affect Jews’ voting: ideology, partisanship, and Israel. Section 2.6 turns to the contemporary period, including their voting in the 2016 election, the impact of the Trump administration, and the 2018 election. Section 2.7 provides a brief conclusion.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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