Democrats hit back against Republican claims that Jewish support has eroded for Obama, releasing a study indicating an increase in the number of Florida Jews who supported the President.
The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) say their analysis shows a marked improvement in Obama’s Jewish vote performance in Florida in the weeks leading up to the election. The group analyzed numbers from late September and again, on Election Day, which indicated an increase from 61 percent to an estimated 68.
The shift represents as many as 117,000 votes, the group said in a statement, which it also called “a tremendous victory for NJDC’s targeted, strategic voter contact effort in Florida, and a mass rejection of the smear campaign waged by Republican Jewish groups.”
The NJDC said it made sure that Jewish voters in the sunshine state “were not taken in by this multi-million dollar effort of lies and smears against our President.”
Republicans had targeted south Florida Jews for months, including highly visible signs along I-95 declaring, “Obama… Oy Vey.”
Republicans, meanwhile, say that overall support of Obama among Jews continues to drop. According to figures released by the Republican Jewish Coalition, Jewish support for the President dropped from 78% in 2008 to 69% on Election Day.
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