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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (15031)	10/2/2004 10:20:11 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27181

Poll: N.Y.'s Russian Jews Backing Bush New York's Jewish community favors John Kerry by a whopping 64 percent to a mere 24 percent for George Bush, according to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which recently conducted a poll. But among Russian Jews in the Big Apple - about 20 percent of the city's Jewish population - Bush comes out with 54 percent to Kerry's mere 14 percent, in another AJC survey not yet made public. "From my conversations with a wide assortment of people in the Russian community, I would estimate that the numbers are something like 8 to 1 for Bush over Kerry," Ari Kagan, executive director of the United Association of East European Jewry and a commentator for the Russian Forward, told New York's The Jewish Week. Story Continues Below "The feeling for Bush is so vociferous that I don't know of one prominent person in the Russian community who is willing to say openly he is backing Kerry," Kagan added. "Even though Russian Jews are mainly registered Democrats, lately many are reluctant to say out loud they are Democrats because they don't want to be tied to Kerry." Fira Stukelman, former president of the Association of Holocaust Survivors from the Former Soviet Union and one of the community's leading advocates for seniors, told The Jewish Week that while older Russians voted strongly for Al Gore over Bush in 2000, "This time they are going overwhelmingly for Bush over Kerry. The reason is simple: Israel, Israel and Israel. "Russian Jews are convinced Bush is the best friend Israel has ever had and is doing more to protect Israel's interests than any other American president." This despite media reports that the Bush administration is proposing sharp cuts in funding for Section 8 housing and concurrent steep rises in rents for those federally subsidized residents. "Many of our people live in Section 8 apartments and simply cannot afford rent hikes," she said. "Yet they say, 'First and foremost, let Israel live and we'll worry about everything else, including housing costs, after that.'" According to The Jewish Week, in the 1980s Russian Jews tended to vote Republican because they admired President Ronald Reagan for his having called their former homeland the "Evil Empire." In the 1990s, the Russians voted Democratic because they liked President Bill Clinton and because the GOP-controlled Congress pushed for a series of bills that cut social benefits for immigrants. The trend continued in 2000, when New York's Russian Jews reportedly voted for Gore over Bush by a margin of about 77-20. "Yet all of that has changed radically over the past four years as Russian-speaking New Yorkers, traumatized by the impact of 9-11, have responded favorably to Bush's war on terror, including the invasion of Iraq, and his unabashed support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in his struggle with the Palestinians," The Jewish Week noted. Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who works primarily for Democrats, told The Jewish Week he is concerned about what the growth of the New York Russian community means for his party not only this year but in the future. "The future of the Jewish community in New York City clearly rests with the Russians," Sheinkopf told The Jewish Week. "There is a question as to whether they share the communal agenda, but the Jewish community needs them if we are to have any political force in the future. "It seems to me that the overall Jewish community is moving toward the center-right," he added. "These days the Jewish agenda is less ideological and more bread and butter. Jews are a lot more concerned about Israel and anti-Semitism than they are about abortion and gay rights." newsmax.com