Jewish support for Democrats over Republicans in congressional elections broke 2-to-1, and Jewish voters remained substantially more supportive of President Barack Obama than the general population, polls showed.
A poll commissioned by J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, showed Jewish voters picking Democrats in the Nov. 4 election 69 percent to 28 percent, consistent when the margin of error is taken into account with the same polling firm’s 69-30 break in the 2012 elections and 66-31 break in 2010.
The consistency in Jewish support for Democrats came despite a rout of the party on Nov. 4.
Jewish voters ranked the economy and health care as their top two concerns entering the voting booth, according to the J Street poll.
Obama’s approval rating in the J Street poll was 57 percent, while his approval rating in the media consortium’s exit poll among all voters was just 44 percent.
Jewish voters, according to the J Street poll, appeared to back Obama’s Middle East policies.
Respondents supported an active U.S. role in the peace process, even if it involved criticism of Israelis and Arabs, by a margin of 72 percent to 28 percent. It dropped to 52 percent supporting and 48 percent opposing such a role if it involved only criticizing Israel.
Respondents overwhelmingly approved of Israel’s actions during its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip this summer, 80-20 percent.
The J Street poll of 800 voters who self-identified as Jewish had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. — jta