Jewish voters share Dem values, says left-leaning Jewish advocate

The executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Halie Soifer, told Hill.TV’s “What America’s Thinking” on Wednesday that the majority of Jewish Americans lean Democratic because they share the same values with the party. 

“The Jewish vote has been very consistent for decades,” Soifer told host Jamal Simmons. 

“Jews, anywhere between 70 to 80 percent of the Jewish electorate has supported Democrats for a long time, well before President Trump,” she continued. “That’s because Democrats share Jewish values.” 

Last week Trump appeared to promote a movement known as “Jexodus” that encourages Jewish voters to leave the Democratic Party over recent remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). 

Omar sparked outrage for recent comments that critics said relied on anti-Semitic tropes — first for suggesting that politicians who support Israel do so for financial reasons and then for suggesting that lobbyists are pushing “allegiance to a foreign country.”

Those comments prompted two votes in the House condemning anti-Semitism, as well as other forms of hate speech. 

Soifer said that despite the ties most Jewish voters have to Israel, their top voting priorities are domestic issues. 

“We’re not one-issue voters. Israel is very important, but Jewish voters are confident in where Democrats stand on Israel, and they’re voting on a range of domestic policies first and foremost, including the increased threat of anti-Semitism,” she said. 

The Jewish Democratic Council of America is a left-leaning organization that describes itself as pro-Israel and socially liberal. 

— Julia Manchester