I don't know that we rule anything, but as a group we tend to turn out in higher percentages than most other groups. As for Florida, it was so close the last couple of elections, that any change in any group's voting paterns could swing the state one way or the other.

During Passover (about 2 months ago) I went to visit my parents for the weekend. They live in South Jersey in one of those "over 55" retirement communities, just like the ones they have in Florida -- mostly all former Jewish NYers who are now retired, except these people didn't want to move to Florida since most have kids/grandkids in the NY metro area.

Anyway, we were invited to one of their friends for the Passover Seder. There were about 20 people there, all retired Jewish folks -- a couple of retired lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc. -- we're not talking uneducated folks here. And when the discussion of Obama came up, most of them said they would not vote for him because he is Muslim. When I told them it was not true, their answer was that they simply did not believe me.

They sited the same old crap about him attending a Muslim school, his father being Muslim, etc. Reality is that he never attended a Muslim school (it was actually a catholic school), and he only met his dad a few times in his entire life -- the last time when he was 10 years old.

Of course I told them all this, but they all said they did not believe me. When we left, my mom told me that 99% of the people she talks to feel the same way.

Keep in mind that these people are almost all registered Democrats who almost always vote Democrat. While this is only a small sample of people, I can tell you that it most likely acurately reflects this group.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

Just curious, what exactly would you call that kind of thinking.

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People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.
James A. Baldwin

It's just ignorance. People are busy with their lives and don't bother to read into things, and are likely to believe rumors. I would imagine that some people are not sure what to believe, but the posibility that such rumors may be true is enough to scare them into not voting for Obama.

I'm not saying that every single older Jewish person is going to believe this nonsense and vote against Obama because of it, but I would imagine that quite a few will. Every time you hear them repeat Obama's middle name, you know why they are doing it.

If you were to take a poll today and ask people what Obama's middle name is, and then ask them what McCain's middle name is, what percentage of the population would know the answer to the first question, and then what percentage of the population would know the answer to the second question?

Eric: They can't be very educated and ignorant at the same time can they.

Yes they can. Ignorance means "uninformed" and has nothing to do with how smart or educated someone is.

didn't that just contradict itself?

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Ignorance and naivitë are different, bro.

Or maybe Jews will vote for McCain because they think he's a better candidate.

The fact that he doesn't offer, on a whim, to meet heads of totalitarian states who have vowed to destroy Israel might have something to do with their choice too.

Some folks around here know exactly what i"m talking about...