The general and long-standing Jewish affinity for the Democratic Party remains alive and well in Milwaukee, while those Jews who are more observant religiously tend toward the Republicans.
So seems to be the conclusion to be drawn from a random sampling of Jewish voters that Chronicle staff members interviewed Tuesday morning at or near polling places throughout the Milwaukee area.
It is perhaps no surprise that three Orthodox Jewish voters living in Milwaukee’s west side (Sherman Park) community told The Chronicle that they would be voting for President Bush.
Poll data and other observations throughout the country have indicated that the U.S. Jewish community has come to resemble many other religious and ethnic communities in linking “right” and “left” wing religiosity with Republican and Democratic votes, respectively.
Moreover, all three believe that security issues for both Israel and the United States were the most important issues in the election, and believed that Bush is stronger in that area than Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).
“I feel Bush will make America more secure than Kerry will,” said Miriam Liff, 35 and a teacher at Yeshiva Elementary School, as she was on her way to vote at the 53rd St. School. She also believes Bush will be better for the U.S.-Israel relationship, she said.
But the other two expressed a diversity of secondary reasons for voting Bush or Republican.
To Rabbi Moshe Gilden, 28 and a scholar at the Milwaukee Kollel Center for Jewish Studies, one important set of issues was “morality.” Speaking just after morning minyan at Congregation Beth Jehudah, he said he believes Bush “will uphold morality in this country” because Bush opposes homosexual marriage and abortion.
But Joel Saltzman, 43 and a computer consultant, said taxes were his “number two” issue. He said he believes “Bush is for lower taxes” and that is another important reason he will vote for him.
All blast the campaign
Also at Beth Jehudah was Michael Berson of Glendale, 32 and a carpenter. He wasn’t there to worship, however; he was there to do some work for the synagogue.
Berson belongs to Congregation Beth Israel (Conservative) and said he was voting for Kerry because “he will create more jobs, hopefully pull our troops out of Iraq and create better health care” for the country.
These seemed to be the sentiments among Jews in the North Shore generally. Currently, “the country is going in the wrong direction,” said Jeff Alper, 48, an investment counselor who voted at the Shorewood City Hall mid-morning on Tuesday.
Alper, who voted a straight Democratic ticket, said that right now “the religious right is controlling the Republican party. The Constitution says there should be a separation between church and state.”
Cathy Baim, 57, named two of the most important issues as “the economy and health care” and said she was voting for Kerry.
Moreover, all six of the Jewish voters interviewed by The Chronicle as they left the polling place at Longacre Pavilion in Fox Point early on Election Day indicated that they voted for Kerry.
But even in the North Shore, there were some Bush supporters, like Ann and Jacob Krakovich, a Russian immigrant couple in their mid 70s, who embody an apparent national tendency in that community.
The issues that were crucial for them were “anything that has to do with the Jews and Israel.” To Anna, “Bush is good for the Jewish people.”
Jacob said he voted for Bush because “he needs more time. Bush needs to finish his job in office.”
However, this couple split their votes between parties, voting for Democrats Sen. Russ Feingold and State Assemblyman Sheldon Wasserman, both of whom are Jewish.
On one point, almost everyone agreed — that the campaigns were nasty, bitter and even dirty in their tone and statements and ads. However, they disagreed over who was most responsible for this.
Among the Fox Point voters, beliefs that Bush has lied to the American people or distorted Kerry’s position were factors in their choice of Kerry.
To first time voter Brian Mann, it was “amazing how the Bush side twisted Kerry’s words so that [less] educated people would misunderstand them.”
Mann was voting with his mother, Ellen Mann, a speech pathologist, who agreed that “Bush is manipulative and will say whatever it takes to get into office.”
“George Bush has lied and he’s incompetent and it’s time for a change,” said attorney Hal Karas. However, he also said that both candidates “spoke in generalities, [and that] one layer down there was an undercurrent of rancor and lack of civility” in the campaign.
“There seemed to be no agreement that both sides can be for America and still have honest differences,” he said.
College consultant Gisela Terner, a Democrat, said that Bush twisted a lot of facts, “lied to us, polarized the country” and based his campaign on fear.
Attorney Jim Adashek, a Democrat, thought “the campaign was terrible;” Bush, in particular, “distorted Kerry’s position, but Kerry also stooped to similar tactics at times.”
Dr. Eli Gecht, who described himself as “more Democrat but sometimes Independent”
also found it “disturbing to see how many lies the president told” and feels “angry at the way the Republicans distorted the facts completely.”
But in Sherman Park, Gilden said he felt the bitterness “was mainly on the liberal side,” which was “making accusations that were unfounded.”
Liff also felt that “the Democrats were a little pushier.” She said that she recently received nine campaign messages on her telephone answering machine, and “seven were Democratic, one was a reminder to vote, and one was Republican.”
Saltzman also denounced the telephone campaign messages, saying they were “counterproductive.” But overall, “Wisconsin suffered over-saturation” from the campaign, he said.
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