Orthodox Jews are more conservative, religiously and politically. And that means that they’re under attack.
Polls place them heavily on the conservative side of the spectrum in national elections. One poll showed 83% of Orthodox Jews voting for Trump, only 13% for Biden. As I noted in 2016, “Among non-Orthodox Jews, Hillary beats Trump by 66 to 23 percent. Among the Orthodox, Trump beats her 66 to 22 percent.”
These numbers are not an outlier from the Trump era.
Only 3% of Orthodox Jews describe themselves as liberal. 69% of Orthodox Jews identity as politically conservative.
In some New York City Orthodox districts, Trump, Romney, and Bush won by 90%.
So it’s no wonder that David Axelrod is ranting about the Jews.
The former Obama strategist is in good company considering that much of Democrat politics in New York in recent years, especially during the pandemic, has revolved around campaigns against Orthodox Jews, whether it’s Cuomo falsely blaming them for the virus, or anti-Orthodox organizations like Yaffed being used as fronts for attacks on religious schools, but David Axelrod is saying the quiet part out loud.
“Certainly, there are places, in New York for example, where you’ve seen a growing ultra-Orthodox community becoming more active in politics,” he said. “And I think there will be some of that effect. The question is whether the rest of the Jewish community stays, remains politically active. And I think it’s really important that that be the case.”
It’s really important to keep religious Jews down.
“The American Jewish community is not a monolithic community… but the vast majority of the American Jewish community is a progressive community, very much in keeping with the values of the Jewish community,” Axelrod said. “And the opposition that [Obama] received, and frankly, Hillary Clinton received, [that] Joe Biden received, comes from an Orthodox community that is viewing the entire American political scene through the lens of ‘a two-state solution is not in the interest of Israel,’ and that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s program is the program that should be followed.”
“And so, you know, there’s a quarter, maybe as much as 30% in that cohort,” Axelrod continued. “It does not represent the whole American Jewish community, and there are many, many people in the American Jewish community who love Israel, and share the concerns about how how this Palestinian issue is dealt with.”
The part that concerns Axelrod and Democrats is that the 30% keeps growing.
Orthodox Jews have far higher marriage rates (83%), far higher birth rates (4.1) and higher identification rates (99%).
60% of Jewish children in New York City are Orthodox. Another analysis found that over a quarter of Jews under 18 are Orthodox.
That’s why the campaign against Orthodox Jews has gone prime time. As I predicted it would last decade. But Axelrod, like most lefties of Jewish ancestry, has absolutely no clue about who Orthodox Jews are.
Yes, Orthodox Jews almost universally oppose the pro-terrorist and anti-Israel policies that Democrats have embraced. But pro-Israel politics are strongest among Modern Orthodox and in some ways weakest among the so-called ultra-Orthodox Haredi and Hassidic Jews.
Quite a few Orthodox Jews are conservative because they are socially conservative. They oppose the Left’s radical social programs, its support for criminals, its hostility to the family, its desire for higher taxes and more regulation, and the rest of the toxic kettle of diseased fish.
Orthodox Jews are more conservative because they’re more conservative. Like conservative Christians, they have the same reflexive response to radical social politics.
And that’s what Axelrod doesn’t get. And Democrats are using their usual identity politics to deepen the divide.
The Chassidic Jews in Brooklyn protesting Cuomo and De Blasio over their pandemic scapegoating were not there because of Netanyahu. They were there because the Democrats were using bigotry to go after their community in exactly the same way that President Trump had been falsely accused by Democrats of going after Asians.
Axelrod’s hateful comments only indicate that more of the same is coming from the Democrat machine.
Leave a Reply