RJC: Obama Did Better Among Jews Than Kerry, BUT...

Shmuel Rosner writes about a conference call with the Republican Jewish Coalition which disputes the idea that Obama did that well among Jews:

the RJC makes an interesting case. Obama didn’t really do as well as people might assume. In this election cycle, the Democrats have gained among all voter groups. And comparing Jews to, say, Catholics or Latinos, the gains Obama made among Jews are not quite as impressive. It’s true that he did get more Jewish votes than Kerry. But he got fewer than both Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

The RJC also claimed that the Democrats were forced to put more effort into getting the Jewish vote than in past elections--and as a result, Obama had to make more pro-Israel speeches out of fear of losing that vote.

Rosner believes that the fact that Obama may have been pressured into those pro-Israel speeches does not mean that those positions are not genuine. He also suggests that the reason that Obama did not do as well with the Jewish vote as Clinton and Gore is because of the growing Orthodox Jewish community--a slowly growing factor.

Over the years, the RJC has been claiming that Republicans have been making inroads into the Democratic hold on the Jewish vote. It looks like even with Obama's victory, the RJC is going to continue to make that claim.

Technorati Tag: Obama and Jewish Vote.