By Andrew Kohut
If nothing else, the coming political battle between President Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress over the potential Iran nuclear deal underscores one of the biggest anomalies in American politics. Republicans have become much stronger backers of Israel than Democrats over the years, yet American Jews have remained Democrats for the most part.
However, given the stakes for Israel with respect to Iran, it’s an open question as to whether long-standing Jewish support for the Democratic Party will be threatened. One worrisome sign for the Democrats is a recent Gallup Poll finding declining support for Obama among Jewish Americans who strongly backed the president in both of his presidential elections. But while there is a lot of recent history showing that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not made a political difference to Jews, many of whom have been critical of Israel in that regard, the potential Iranian threat may well be different.
