How Mitt Romney is Wooing the Jewish Voters

Every four years, Republican presidential candidates try to lure away Jewish voters, who vote mostly Democratic.

This week, the Republicans are holding their convention in a swing state full of Jewish Americans.

Anchor Marco Werman talks to Nathan Guttman of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, who evaluates Mitt Romney’s efforts to cast himself as Israel’s best friend.

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Marco Werman: The Mideast hasn’t exactly been at the top of the U.S. Presidential campaign agenda, but it is a factor. President Obama’s relationship with Israeli leaders has been icy and Mitt Romney’s camp is hoping that his unequivocal support for Israel will attract votes from Jewish Americans who have traditionally voted Democratic. Nathan Guttman is the reporter with the Israeli Broadcasting Authority and he’s in Tampa for the Republican Convention this week. He says Romney’s visit to Israel earlier this summer got good reviews there.

Nathan Guttman: Definitely, he got a very, very warm welcome in Israel. He was embraced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who officially tries to remain outside the American political race, but definitely I think all commentators agree that he favors Romney, or at least has certain problems with President Obama. The Israeli people also seem to like Romney. His visit was seen as a positive move and it also helped the Republicans highlight the fact that President Obama did not visit Israel during his first term.

Werman: So what did Romney’s trip to Israel do to shore up support for him in this country?

Guttman: Well, that’s a good question because, of course, for most voters, they couldn’t care less about foreign policy in general. However, there are certain segments of the population; one of them, of course, is Jewish Americans, especially here in Florida which is a swing state and has a larger Jewish population. It’s not a deciding factor for most of them, of course, but they do want to know that their candidate has a good relationship, a warm relationship with Israel, and definitely in that sense, Romney’s visit helped him with that. It also helps with another constituency which is major Jewish donors who want to see Romney make gestures in favor of Israel, and it helps with the evangelical Christians, a very large segment of the population that is kind of skeptical of Romney because of religious issues, but cares deeply about Israel and, of course, they’re looking at this visit as well.

Werman: Well, of course, Romney was electioneering when he was in Israel. What’s the concern in Israel, that the United States is really more focused on the domestic economy right now and less interested in moving the peace process forward?

Guttman: I don’t know how much concern it is to the Israeli government. My sense is that it feels pretty uncomfortable with the status quo on the issues relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict right now. I think if there is something that the people in Israel are worried about in America, whether it will be President Obama or Governor Romney; do these leaders really have the ability right now to mobilize America into a major military effort in Iran if needed, and the sense of many Israelis is that no matter who the candidate will be, none of them can take the country, with the economy as it is and with the public tired of the Middle Eastern wars, to actually launch such a military effort.

Werman: What is the breakdown of Jewish Republicans and Democrats in this country? I mean every four years does the GOP manage to win over any new votes from the Democrats?

Guttman: Well, that’s definitely interesting; Jewish voters are traditionally democratic and they are democratic mainly because it’s a very liberal population. They support greater involvement of government in providing a safety net to the American people. They support immigration reform, they don’t oppose higher taxes, so definitely there is a strong tendency among American Jews to vote democratic, and President Obama got anywhere between 72 to 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, and that’s pretty much consistent with his predecessors as well. Now, there is this expectation, even in democratic circles, that it will shift a little bit these elections. Republicans hope they can reach 30, 35 percent of the Jewish vote. Democrats feel that they might lose about 5 percent of the Jewish vote. Part of this has to do with the fact that Obama is perceived by some to have a difficult relationship with the Israeli president, and part of it has to do with the fact that Jewish Americans, like any other American, they are part of the general public and they feel also, some of them feel disappointed with the pace of the economic recovery, and that could explain some of this expected shift, but again, we’re talking about a very small shift.

Werman: Nathan Guttman, Washington correspondent with the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, speaking with us from the GOP Convention in Tampa, Florida. Thank you very much, Nathan.

Guttman: Thanks.

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