When 89 percent of Americans surveyed in a poll a few years ago said they would vote for a Jewish presidential candidate, most thought they were answering a hypothetical question.
But with the entry of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the American voter could face that question head on.
With his announcement last week, the 65-year-old three-term senator became the first Jew to make a serious — albeit longshot — bid for the nation’s highest elected office.
Other Republicans who have formally declared their candidacy are: Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, commentator Pat Bauchanan and radio talk host Alan Keyes.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas plans to announce his candidacy on April 10, and Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana on April 19. California Gov. Pete Wilson has also indicated that he intends to run.
Although Specter is widely known as a moderate politician, a staunch supporter of Israel and the only pro-choice Republican currently in the field of candidates, he has yet to garner significant support in the Jewish community, which overwhelmingly votes Democratic in national elections.
Still, Specter’s candidacy has garnered some excitement among Jews.
“It’s good for the community to have a national Jewish candidate,” said Charles Brooks, executive director of NATPAC, the National Political Action Committee, the largest of the pro-Israel political action committees.
NATPAC has already given Specter $5,000 the maximum allowed under federal law, said Brooks, a former Specter aide who acknowledged that the candidacy was a longshot.
But many seasoned political observers say that overall, Specter’s Jewishness will not be a significant factor for either Jews or non-Jews.
“Jewishness has become irrelevant,” said Hyman Bookbinder, the former Washington representative of the American Jewish Committee.
“In my lifetime I have seen an absolutely remarkable change in the achievements of Jewish Americans,” said Bookbinder, a founder of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
He cited as examples of Jewish accomplishment the two Jewish members of the current Supreme Court and the nine Jewish senators.
“Someone’s Jewishness will not ought not become a contributing factor,” he said.
At the same time, however, Bookbinder did not totally discount the Jewish factor.
“There’s no doubt for some American voters that his Jewishness will be a negative factor. And surely he will pick up some additional Jewish votes because he is Jewish.”
Jerome Chanes, co-director for domestic concerns at the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, disagreed that Specter will gain any Jewish support because of his religion.
When asked whether there will be a favorite son attitude toward Specter, Chanes said, “There is none, period.”
“A Jew is running for president. My reaction is: So what?” he said.
Specter himself has said his religion should not become a factor in the race. ..TX.-“America showed that we could have a Catholic president some 35 years ago, and I believe that Americans are tolerant and understanding and will judge a person based on his qualifications,” Specter said in an interview with CBS last week after announcing his candidacy.
“But I also think that American’s ready for a Jewish president. And if America is not ready for a Jewish president, it should be,” the senator said.
A Gallup poll conducted periodically since 1958 has asked Americans whether they would vote for “a well-qualified man for president” if “he happened to be a Jew.”
According to the results published in the American Jewish Committee’s study, “Anti-Semitism in Contemporary America,” 89 percent of Americans answered yes in 1989, the last time the survey was taken.
Six percent of Americans said they would not vote for a Jew, and five percent said they did not know.
The latest figures show a rise in support for a Jewish candidate from the first time the poll was conducted in 1958. At that time, 62 percent said they would vote for a Jew for president and 27.6 percent said they would not.
The poll has consistently shown that more Americans would vote for a Jew than an atheist or an African American male.
Although Specter has garnered some support from Jewish Republicans, Jewish GOP powerhouses such as Max Fisher have flocked to Dole, the early favorite.
Big Jewish money may not be forthcoming in the early stages, but Specter supporters say backing will come if and when he can show that he is a serious candidate.
“If he becomes a more viable candidate he will get more Jewish support,” said Herbert Linsenberg, alongtime supporter who also serves as treasurer of the National Jewish Coalition, the leading Jewish Republican organization.
Everybody loves a winner,” said Linsenberg of Philadelphia, who sits on Specter’s campaign finance committee.
Observers say that if Specter or one of the other three candidates wins the nomination, some of the big Jewish fund-raisers could come on board late and still gain a favorable ear. But doing the reverse — backing other candidates and then turning to Dole in the late stages of the campaign — would prove more difficult, they say.
Specter could also find support from jewish Democrats at the ballot box.
In his last re-election bid for the Senate, a significant number of Jewish Democrats in Pennsylvania cast their vote for Specter.
In presidential primaries, a handful of smaller states allow voters to choose the primary in which they want to vote.
As a result, if President Clinton goes unchallenged for the Democratic nomination, some Jewish Democrats may choose to support Specter in the primary, observes predict.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
