November 2: The Jewish Vote

Jimmy Carter was elected president of the U.S. on this date in 1976, with 71 percent of the Jewish vote. Although President Carter led Israel and Egypt to the Camp David Accords of 1978, he was subsequently targeted by conservative Jewish leaders for his opposition to Israeli settlement policies in the occupied Palestinian territories. Carter’s share of the Jewish vote declined in 1980 to 45 percent, with John Anderson, an independent candidate, receiving 14 percent and Ronald Reagan, the Republican victor, 39 percent — the highest tally for any Republican candidate since World War II. Here are the Jewish Democratic vote tallies since 1960: Kennedy, 1960, 82 percent; Johnson, 1964, 90 percent; Humphrey, 1968, 81 percent; McGovern, 1972, 65 percent; Mondale, 1984, 67 percent; Dukakis, 1988, 64 percent; Clinton, 1992, 80 percent, 1996, 78 percent; Gore, 2000, 79 percent; Kerry, 2004, 76 percent; Obama, 2008, 78 percent; Obama, 2012, 69 percent.

“Jews earn like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans.” —Milton Himmelfarb