Jewish Support For Obama In Florida Down 7 Points From 2008
Support for President Barack Obama among Jews in the state of Florida is down 7 percentage points on 2008, according to an American Jewish Committee (AJC) poll released Thursday.
A total of 69% of Florida Jews said they would vote for Obama in November’s presidential elections, down from an estimated 76% in 2008, the AJC noted.
A 7 percentage-point drop in the Jewish vote likely represents over 50,000 votes in a state that the Republicans won in 2000 by fewer than 600 votes.
The 69% figure closely matches the results of a Gallup poll among Jewish voters nationwide from last weekend, which put support for Obama among US Jews at 70%.
Only 25% of Florida Jews said they would vote for Mitt Romney, according to the AJC poll.
Republicans have invested unprecedented resources — including buying billboards, print advertisements and door-to-door canvassing — to target hundreds of thousands of Jews in swing states whom the Republican Jewish Coalition has suggested may be considering turning away from their traditional Democratic affiliation.
The AJC’s telephone poll was conducted among 254 registered Jewish voters between September 7-9. The AJC expects to publish, within the coming weeks, a poll of Jewish voters in Ohio — another key battleground state — and a nationwide poll.
“In a key state, to which both parties are devoting a great deal of time and attention, and where recent history is a reminder that the margin of victory can be razor-thin, the Jewish vote takes on added importance,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris.
According to Republican Jewish Coalition head Matt Brooks, the new poll “reinforces what we’ve been saying all along, and that various polls in the past have indicated, which is that Barack Obama continues to have trouble with Jewish voters, and we continue to see significant erosion of Jewish support for the president.”
Democrats, however, challenged the conclusion Thursday that the new poll showed Obama slipping among Florida Jewish voters.
“It’s comparing apples and oranges to compare a 2008 exit poll and an AJC study in September of 2012,” said National Jewish Democratic Council head David Harris.
“But having said that, when you take out the undecideds from the AJC poll, you have Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 73 [percent] to 26,” he added. “This is one point away from where I see the final vote tally of the Jewish vote settled in 2008,” which the NJDC has argued came in at 74%.
