Super (Ethnic) Tuesday and the Jews
Posted By James BesserPolitical Insider: Super (Ethnic) Tuesday and the Jews
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As Jewish Week assistant managing editor Adam Dickter pointed out in a front page story this week, Super Tuesday - next week's coast-to-coast primary fest - will provide an intriguing glimpse of where the Jewish community is these days, politically.
Clinton vs. Obama? Exit poll data in states like Illinois and California should prove fascinating, and you can bet the outreach and finance folks in both parties will be looking closely at the data.
Will Mitt Romney's economic pitch appeal to Jewish Republicans? Hopefully the numbers in some states will be high enough for useful exit poll data.
But while Jews go to the polls in disproportionate numbers, the real story in many states will be other minorities with a bigger demographic footprint.
According to an interesting article on Super Tuesday in political scientist Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball newsletter, seven states voting on February 5 have populations that are 15 percent or more African- American - "four in the South…and three in the industrial Frost Belt (including New York)."
By way of contrast, the Jewish population in the state with the most Jews -- New York - is under 9 percent, and no other state is even close.
Another five states voting on Tuesday have populations that are at least 15 percent Hispanic.
Ethnic politics in America, it seems, is getting more complicated by the day, a shift with profound implications for the Jewish community.
Go to Sabato's site for a Super Tuesday rundown comprehensive enough to satisfy your Inner Wonk.