The headline in Egypt24 says “Jewish money is the leading/primary voter in America.”
The accompanying graphic:
The article bases itself on an out of context quote by historian Gil Troy, who notes that “Jews constitute only two percent of America’s population, limiting their voting power. But in recent presidential elections, Jews donated as much as 50 percent of the funds Democrats raised from individuals and 25 percent of Republican funds.”
But this isn’t a question of influence, as Troy notes. It is a reflection of identity.
The Jewish vote tells more about American Jewish identity than about American Jewish power. American Jews’ deep loyalty to the Democratic Party since Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency in the 1930s has mystified conservatives since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s… Just as most Americans after the Civil War defined themselves as Democrats or Republicans “becuz that’s how my daddy and granddaddy voted,” voting Democratic is often considered as central to the American Jewish inheritance as are an inspirational immigration story, silver candlesticks, and grandma’s matza ball recipe. George W. Bush’s press secretary Ari Fleischer remembers that when his “horrified” parents discovered he had become a Republican activist in college, they told sympathetic neighbors in Westchester: “at least he’s not a drug addict.”Moreover, despite assumptions that Jews vote Jewish interests, especially regarding Israel, most American Jews are more pro-choice than pro-Israel in the voting booth.
The Egyptian paper is engaging in the antisemitic stereotype of a monolithic Jewish power controlling America.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)
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