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  2. Why Are Orthodox Jews So Different on Israel Compared to Other Jews?

Why Are Orthodox Jews So Different on Israel Compared to Other Jews?

By mikethemadbiologist on July 19, 2008.

A recent poll breaks down the support for McCain and Obama among Jews by denomination:

J Street Presentation 071508

I can't figure out why there is such a sharp difference. It's not like abortion would be a wedge issue (an aside: Orthodox Jews comprise 7-12% of the population; in this poll, they were 8% of the sample). Age can't be an issue either: Conservative Jews trend slightly older, and Orthodox slightly younger. It would be interesting to see how denomination is correlated with religious denomination and with importance of Israel's security.

Unfortunately, like every other poll where they claim to release the data, we don't have each person's responses linked to each other. This means all we can do is stare at bar graphs and offer up bullshit.

When I become El Supremo, pollsters will be required to release the damn spreadsheet...

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I would think that 'Orthodox' is a heterogeneous group that includes everything from Modern Orthodox to Haredim. Those different Orthodox groups may have different core issues.

The title is highly misleading since the study in question doesn't show that at all. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if attitudes about Israel figure into this. I also agree strongly that Orthodox is a diverse category and putting them all together like this is unhelpful.

When I become El Supremo, pollsters will be required to release the damn spreadsheet...

Hm, It seems like J Street's pretty accessible. I think I've seen them work with bloggers before and one of the OpenLeft guys is actually on their advisory board. It might actually be that if you contacted them and told them about your blog they might give you access to more of their data.

There is a lot of crackpot stuff in the Orthodox community. For example, a lot of Jews deny that the Holocaust ever took place, and many would like to see the State of Israel destroyed. I wish I were making this kind of stuff up, but I lack the imagination.

Orthodox Jews often claim that they have a longer tradition than other Jews, but they stopped their religion from growing in the late 18th century. Other Jews kept moving forward.