Although President Carter received a record low support from Jewish voters in Tuesday’s election, more Jews voted for him than for Republican Ronald Reagan nationwide and in New York and California, according to an analysis of the vote by CBS News and The New York Times.
The survey was conducted by a special unit in New York City headed by Warren Mitofsky, veteran political analyst. The Coalition for Reagan-Bush, which was organized by Jewish Republicans last summer in Detroit to campaign for Republican candidates, had estimated that Reagan and Carter ran about even among Jewish voters with about 45 percent each, and credited independent John Anderson with 10 percent nationwide.
The CBS-New York Times survey, however, showed Carter received 45 percent, Reagan 39 percent. Anderson 14 percent, one percent for Barry Commoner, who ran on the Citizens Party ticket, and the remainder of the Jewish vote scattered.
In New York State, Carter received 51 percent, Reagan 37 percent, and Anderson nine percent. In California, Carter received 40 percent, Reagan 37 percent, Anderson 17 percent and Commoner three percent. The survey indicated that one percent of California’s Jews voted for candidates other than for President.
In addition, the CBS-Times survey showed that the Jewish vote was five percent of the nationwide general vote, which signifies that in proportion to the general voting population twice as many Jews went to the polls. The Jewish vote in New York State was estimated at 18 percent of the total vote. In other words, almost one in five votes cast in New York State Tuesday was by Jewish voters, according to the survey.
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.
