American Jewish Committee's 2006 Annual Survey of Jewish Opinion.

-- Ira Forman

The American Jewish Committee's (AJC) 2006 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion shows that the number of Jewish voters identifying themselves as Democrats has increased from 48 percent to 54 percent since the last mid-term election in 2002. At the same time, the number of Jewish voters identifying themselves as Republicans has decreased from 18 percent in 2002 to 15 percent in 2006.

"These numbers reaffirm what we have been saying for so long. Jewish voters just don't feel comfortable with the Republican Party," said NJDC Executive Director Ira Forman. "Most recently, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) spent a million dollars in a 'devoid of truth' campaign to divide the Jewish community and convince Jewish voters to switch their party affiliation. All they have to show for it is a three percent decrease in the number of Jews who consider themselves to be Republicans and a six percent increase in the number of Jews who are now Democrats. If this is what you get with $1 million in RJC ad buys, I hope that they spend $2 million in 2008."

The AJC survey also shows that the number of Jewish voters who identify themselves as liberal has increased from 37 percent in 2002 to 42 percent in 2006. In contrast, the number of Jewish voters who identify themselves as conservative has decreased from 29 percent to 25 percent during the same time period.

According to the AJC 2006 Annual Survey, Jewish voters also believe that the Democratic Party is more likely to make the right decisions about the Iraq war and terrorism, as well as ensure a strong economy.

"RJC donors are going to demand a refund when they read these numbers," Forman noted. "These non-partisan numbers don't lie. Jewish voters aren't buying what Republicans are selling."

-- American Jewish Committee

Introduction

The data reported here are from the 2006 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, detailing the views of American Jews about a broad range of subjects. Among the topics covered in the present survey are the campaign against terrorism and the war in Iraq, the Israel-Arab conflict, the attachment of American Jews to Israel, political and social issues in the United States, Jewish perceptions of anti-Semitism, Jewish opinion about various countries, and Jewish identity concerns. Some of the questions appearing in the survey are new; others are drawn from previous American Jewish Committee surveys, including the Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion carried out in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.

The 2006 survey was conducted for the American Jewish Committee by Synovate (formerly Market Facts), a leading survey-research organization. Respondents were interviewed by telephone between September 25 - October 16, 2006; no interviewing took place on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. The sample consisted of 958 self-identifying Jewish respondents selected from the Synovate consumer mail panel. The respondents are demographically representative of the United States adult Jewish population on a variety of measures. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

B. ISRAEL

C. NATIONAL AFFAIRS

D. ANTI-SEMITISM

E. JEWISH IDENTITY