Scholar: Jewish voters a puzzle

A prominent Harvard professor who spoke yesterday said Jewish voter patterns closely resemble those of lower-income voters.

The Penn alumnus and author, Nathan Glazer, spoke at the National Constitution Center yesterday afternoon as part of the Jews and the American Republic Conference.

Jews in the United States have become increasingly prosperous and assimilated into American culture, to the point that some are wondering if this assimilation is a threat to Judaism.

However, Glazer observed, "Jews do not vote like their neighbors."

Since 1916, the majority of Jews have voted for Democratic candidates. In 2000, 19 percent of Jewish voters supported Bush, and this number increased to 25 percent in the past election.

"As Jews have become more and more prosperous, they continue to vote more like lower-income voters," Glazer said.

Glazer added that Jews should be deterred from voting Democratic because of the Republican tendency to increase military spending, which may help Israel.

He believes that the pattern is likely due to support that Jews have received from liberals in the past. This loyalty to liberalism has not been lost over the years, despite the apparent increase in the number of Republican Jews.

Attendees cited other reasons for Jewish voting patterns.

1949 Wharton graduate Meyer Goldfarb, who attended the event, said he votes Democratic out of practicality.

"I think and I feel politically that there are too few parties and that doesn't give us any real choices," Goldfarb said.

He added that Jews "range on the liberal side" on topics such as gay rights and stem-cell research and that Orthodox Jews are not more likely to vote Republican -- despite the belief that they are often more conservative than those of other expressions.

Also discussing discrimination faced by Jews, Glazer attributed the fear of anti-Semitism that still plays a role in Jewish behavior to the fact that overrepresentation of the religious group is not measured.

"Jewish overrepresentation should be explained, instead of avoided or mystified," Glazer said.

As a sidenote, the Harvard professor added, "think of how much worse off [Harvard president] Summers would be if he had commented on [Jewish] overrepresentation, that even as bold as he is, he did not dare do."

Glazer noted that 10 percent of Congress and 18 percent of U.S. judges are Jewish, while only 2 percent of the U.S. population is Jewish.

Reflecting the sentiments of several audience members, College senior Rebecca Moses said that Glazer's "picture on anti-Semitism and continued Jewish identity was too rosy," adding that Glazer did not realize the actual amount of anti-Semitism in America.

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