President Barack Obama‘s support among American Jewish voters in Florida has declined seven percentage points since 2008, when he won the state and the presidential election.
American Jewish Committee survey released Thursday found that 69 percent of Florida’s Jewish population say they will support Obama, 25 percent said they would vote for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
In 2008, Obama won 76 percent of Florida’s Jewish vote.
“In a key state, to which both parties are devoting a great deal of time and attention, and where recent history is a reminder that the margin of victory can be razor-thin, the Jewish vote takes on added importance, said AJC Executive Director David Harris in a statement. “This survey, the first of three on the Jewish political outlook in the build-up to November 6, will doubtless be of interest to all those following this year’s election.”
The Jewish vote represents four percent of the Florida electorate.
Matt Brooks, Republican Jewish Coalition leader, told The Times of Israel that the results of AJC’s poll are indicative of what his group has been saying, “that Barack Obama continues to have trouble with Jewish voters, and we continue to see significant erosion of Jewish support for the president.”
National Jewish Democratic Council president David Harris countered, however that to compare the survey to the 2008 exit polls is “comparing apples and oranges.”
“But having said that, when you take out the undecideds from the AJC poll, you have Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 73 [percent] to 26,” he added to The Times of Israel. “This is one point away from where I see the final vote tally of the Jewish vote settled in 2008.”
Harris claims that Obama is enjoying an upward trajectory when it comes to winning the Jewish vote.
Jewish voters overwhelmingly approve of Obama’s handling of the economy (64 percent), health care (69 percent) and national security (76 percent). But they also are hawkish when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, with 74 percent saying they would support Israeli military action to prevent it, something The Times of Israel notes, the Obama administration opposes.