By Erica Morris, Jewish News
With only five days until Americans head to the polling booth to pick the next US President, Jews in the UK have revealed who they’d like to see in the White House come inauguration day – Barack Obama, but only just.
In an exclusive poll conducted on our sister website www.totallyjewish.com over the past week, hundreds of Jewish News readers took the opportunity to tell us which of the two principal candidates they supported.
And it was the Illinois senator who won the day, with 52 percent of readers throwing their vote behind the Democratic candidate. That put Obama narrowly ahead of Arizona Senator John McCain, who secured 45 percent of the poll on the Republican ticket.
The result reflected the trend shown by a majority of American polling agencies this week, with CNN showing Obama at an eight point lead and a USA Today poll putting the Democratic candidate up by as much as 14 points.
The debate on which leader would best benefit Israel has received considerable attention with both sides of the spectrum insisiting they’re the dream ticket for the security of the Jewish state.
Writing in the Jewish News this week, the Republican Jewish Coalition stated that McCain “will defend Israel unconditionally and has consistently supported Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel”.
The Jewish Democratic Council, meanwhile, asserted that Obama’s plan for “real energy independence from Middle East oil means a safer Israel”.
A poll this week by the TNS Teleseker agency found that were the decision in the hands of Israeli citizens, it would be the McCain/Palin ticket headed to Washington. The survey, conducted on behalf of the Rabin Centre for Israeli Studies, showed that 46.4 percent of the country’s residents would throw their bid in for the Republican candidate, opposed to 34 percent who would like to see a President Obama.
Reflecting the views of many in the UK community, Jewish News columnist Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, who lived in America for several years, said: “It’s a difficult decision because each has their strengths and weaknesses. Where McCain has the experience, Obama has the vision. McCain will probably maintain the status quo vis a vis Israel, but has an airhead for a Vice President. Obama is more suspicious on the Middle East, but has a Vice President with a proven track record in favour of Israel.
“On balance I would go with Obama because I’m a firm believer in change. There are those who are afraid of it – but as in the words of Churchill, ‘There’s nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction.'”
Schochet’s criticism of the McCain ticket echoes the negative backlash that emerged after he picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running mate, a candidate that voters had little information on and whose verbal gaffes made her quick fodder for political satire.
The appointment may also have helped raise Obama’s numbers among Jewish voters, with a current Gallup poll giving the Democrat 74 percent approval from the Jewish community, a number that is more in line with the generally left-wing demographic. The party usually sweeps Jewish votes, with 2004’s John Kerry bid receiving 78 percent.
Some Obama supporters have been slow to celebrate, however, as a hindering US political theory called the Bradley Effect threatens to shorten the lead. The principal is based on the 1982 defeat of popular California gubernatorial candidate Tom Bradley, a black Democrat who was defeated on election day despite being ahead in the polls prior to the vote. Political analysts surmise that voters will tell pollsters one thing, not wanting to seem prejudiced, but vote differently. Were this to happen, Obama’s campaign could be in for an upset on 4 November.
Idiots! Fools!
This is the sign of a good rabbi and a mentcsch. he makes sure to apologize if it is necessary. i wonder if only other people who make mistakes would do the same.
does this wonderful CHABAD Rabbi shave his beard??? just wondering to what degree he represents Chabad or real frumkeit.
och un vai
every vote counts no matter where u are vote in n.y. john mccain
whoever even thinks of voting for barak hussein who was in a church for 20 years 20 years with a anti semite needs help .remember sharpton remember riots in crown heights thats what we are in for if this barak hussein wins chas vshalom.
this rabbi in london should keep his opinion in london being that i guess he also got paid off by the PLO to say what he said and make the biggest chilul hashem and lubavitch.
GOD BLESS YOU FOR HAVING THE GUTS TO SAY THIS
your McCain vote is worthless
http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/93/1368589
Funny yhis site. 35 people post against Obama. Some are one and the same. So we can assume 27 monkeys here are scare mongering. I think in the US that will make as much difference as a rain drop in the Amazon. Let them vent.
It’s only an election! it that enough to make you ignore ahavas yisroel?
To Senator Obama: The New York Times carried a story on Saturday, October 4, 2008, that proved you had a significantly closer relationship with Bill Ayers than what you previously admitted. While the issue of your relationship is of concern, the greater concern is that you lied to America about it. The Chicago Sun reported on May 8, 2008, that FBI records showed that you had a significantly closer relationship with Tony Rezko than what you previously admitted. In the interview, you said that you only saw Mr. Rezko a couple of times a year. The FBI files showed that… Read more »
1) Rabbi Y. Schochet is, no doubt, talented and has a way with words. He should continue to use that talent for what he does best (defending the Tanya and other Torah issues) but, stay away from medling in political issues.
2) It is shocking, that there is even one Torah observant Jew today, who is so uninformed and will vote for Barak Obama. What foolish people they are.
McCain!!!
I cannot give you the last word, for I beleive that you and those who are foolish and blind enough to share your views, are a danger to us all. If Barack Obama is elected, you will one day be forced to eat your words.
Your insults do not change the facts.
May, what ever Hashem has in store for us be BICHESED UVRACHAMIM.
What did Obama ever do or say against a Yid??
until now i had a doubt, now i’m sure you’re nuts!
You can justify Schochat until you are blue in the face. The FACT REMAINS…. Yitzchok Shochat messed up big time, and should have the guts to go before the world and admit he was wrong for opnening his mouth on this issue. This has everything to do with the Rubashkins, Jews and people all over the world. The world knows by now….”when America catches a cold, the entire world gets sick”. Ronald Reagan, who was a president that stood for everything Barak Obama does not, once said “YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE”. Not you # 24, nore your… Read more »
Here’s Obama speaking at AIPAC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cOJNC2EuJw
ur plain sick
Obama would be great for us. Anyone else hear his speech at AIPAC? This guy loves Israel and the Jews… bring him on!
Raboysy: it feels like in Germany 1939. Wake up. The only remedy is to go out and vote. Every one take five more people with you–so we at least might have a chance that NY would go for Macain.
Schochet, your all about the name and how you can get it in the news Etc, PR PR PR, that’s all your about, a man that is openly willing to meet with a true Jew and Israel hater a Holocaust denier
what is with you and for all the other Obama lovers the same is to you!!!! Good thing London has you!!!
in this video u will see obama want to create a gestapo here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s.
I just went to the site. http://www.totallyjewish.com I clicked on the newspaper ‘the Jewish News’ where this was taken from. (a) It is not a headline. Schochet is quoted in the middle of a whole bunch of rabbis interviewed just podering their views for the UK readers, NOT pushing a candidate for election. (b) There is NO headline there about a Chabad Rabbi saying I am for Obama. That was created by COL giving a misleading headline. (c) I think you should go to the site and see for yourself. I am a Republican and I don’t think any Shluchim… Read more »
very dissapointing to see guys who call themselves shluchim behaving this way.. hashem yiracheim
FACT: Yitzhak Shochet was commenting on his point of view of Obama. To string that with the Rabashkins is just plain stupid. FACT: he is not voting in the US and was giving a point of view to an English paper for an English audience. He was not making his comments to a US audience or a US paper. That COL chose to publish it because they have him on some alert is not his problem. FACT: I live in the UK. I can tell you that in this same week, there was someone who wrote a whole attack against… Read more »
I wonder if the ROSH will write a article blasting his own off the wall family member … as he did when Boteach spoke out of line?
ROSH WHERE ARE YOU??? PROTECT US FROM YOUR FAMILY!
http://www.thejidf.org/2008/10/help-remove-antisemitic-network.html
http://www.thejidf.org/2008/10/guess-he-doesnt-know-that-jews-own.html
Why are so many Jews so self hating???
Add this to the mounting evidence of the guy’s anti-Semitic character
http://www.rjchq.org/Multimedia/video.aspx?video=238cbe42-9e1b-4e2f-b27f-515b7b4e33e5
Yitchak Shochat may persuade some fools to get Obama in the White House. It will be a temporary victory.
The Rubashkins, as a family who continue to do so much chesed, will have acquire for themselves and for all of us, the true DIDAN NOTZACH!!!
I wonder if the well informed Yitzchak Schochet is. If he knows about “Jew Lover Obama” and his statements, while on the campaign trail, against the Rubashkins. Obama, the presidential candidate, found the time and opportunity, to attempt to destroy, chas vesholom, a Jewish family and company. Can you imagine what he is capable of doing to Jews and Eretz Yisroel if he becomes Obama the president, G-D forbid?!?! It is sad to look on, as the generous and prominent Chabad Lubavitch, Rubashkin family, fights for its life, against an unfair and unjust double standard government, and the one (that… Read more »
All Religious Jews, (and non Jews) let alone Chassidim and Shluchim, who are voting for Obama, or worse, endorsing and encouraging others to vote for him, are doubtlessly SELF HSATING JEWS. May G-d have pity on you. There are hundreds of reasons why this man should NOT receive the support of the religious/Jewish community. Anyone who has not figured this out by now is sadly OUT OF TOUCH, or does not care about Torah Values or the Jewish homeland. I suggest that you start educating yourself. This youtube video would be a good place to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM-KEv8zxMA You need to… Read more »
Thanks, I’m also canadian, so I know…..
#8
I once respected your powers of speech , but, I seriously will not pay any attention to anything you have to say anymore.
you aren’t thinking !!!!!!!!!!!!! Or listening !!!!
I just checked that website http://www.thejidf.org and it got some really interesting facts about Obama & the Jews, also that site thejidf.org gives ways to get rid of Anti Semitic material, everybody should check http://www.thejidf.org
You said it so well. Hit the nail right on the head! Thank you.
Obama has never been in office, but the Republicans have and look what they did to our country.
Look what happened in our county under their watch: 9/11, 2 wars, Kartina, Hamas elections, Iran on the rise, economic breakdown
All I know is that McCain sounds like the same
Shame, shame on Yitzchok Schochat! Just because an individual has a good “mouth-piece”, does not give him (or her) a reason to “mouth off”. When he speaks on Torah issues with eloquence, I applaud him and we are all proud. However, when he oversteps his bounds, (and trips all over himself) as he has clearly done here, he must be repremanded. Even though he is not an official Chabad spokesperson, people do connect him to Lubavitch. As such, he and others like him, have a major responsibility to this great and certainly, politically “unbiased” movement. Surely he must know that… Read more »
Glad this guy is not voting in our elections.
Obama is the future of America and will do what’s right for Israel
This guy is a total airhead
I thought Chabad doesnt make polotical statements
guys go to http://www.thejidf.org they got all the real stuff about Obama
VERY nice, this is all we need.
Obama supporters.
IS HE NORMALLL?/?
If anyone is thinking about voting for Obama please
watch the following link, hopefully it will change your minds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HZMD97nMw