American Jewish leaders yesterday predicted a big turnout among Jews in November's presidential election in favour of Barack Obama, in spite of suspicions about his views on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, an advocacy group with strong links to the Democratic party, said: "I think Obama will win the Jewish vote by a large margin. The question is how much?"
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism, said American Jews' political affinity with African Americans, born of a shared experience of discrimination, could outstrip concerns among some Jewish voters that Obama was not pro-Israel enough.
"There is a great deal of pride and excitement about this moment in history as we see this real possibility of seeing a black president," he said.
Obama's visit to Israel was partly to counter criticism from his Republican rival, John McCain, that he lacks foreign policy experience but was also to shore up support among American Jews.
Although they make up only 3% of the US electorate, Jews have been important as activists in the Democratic party and as generous donors.
Unlike young voters and African Americans, two key Obama constituencies who have turned out in low numbers in the past but are predicted to vote in large numbers for Obama this time, Jews are dependable about casting their ballots. They tend to be overwhelmingly Democrat, with 65% identifying themselves as Democratic or leaning Democratic, according to a June survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. A Gallup poll in April put Obama on 61% among Jewish voters to 32% for McCain.
Forman said that while Jews were concentrated in places such as New York and California, which both vote for the Democrats, there were also large numbers in states where the outcome was not as predictable, including Florida, Ohio and Colorado. "When you are running a political campaign, you always make the assumption it will be a close race and you have to turn out all your constituencies heavily," he said.
Saperstein said Obama had defused some worries about his commitment to Israel through his speech last month at a conference in Washington of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, in which he promised that Jerusalem would be the undivided capital of Israel.
