McCain Scores Landslide in Hasidic Brooklyn

Obama won big in Brooklyn (79%–20%) November 4th, but not in South Williamsburg, where the largely Hasidic population voted overwhelmingly for John McCain. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the three election districts populated by Satmar Hasidim voted for McCain over Obama by 84% to 16%—while nationwide Obama won 77% of the Jewish vote. What's up, Hasidim? Reporter Zeke Faux finds the landslide "ironic" because the Satmars believe the Messiah will only come after Israel falls, and McCain surrogates portrayed Obama as anti-Israel. But McCain voter Shlomo Friedman says, "Israel wasn’t a big issue. It’s more people here are not going to go with someone [Obama] who’s not so stable." Another insisted that McCain would be better "running the economy." Faux also theorizes that the McCain support could be explained by an inclination among Hasidim to respect elders.

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By John Del Signore in News on November 14, 2008 10:49 AM

Comments [rss]

HUGO_MEGO

Hasidim is number one. I like Hasidim.

MaiaW

"Another things about the Satmar is that the average Chasid on the street is afraid of being viewed as different than the rest of the community. Therefore, they're likely to *say* they voted for McCain, but they actually voted for Obama."

But...if most others in their community (i.e. Brooklyn in general or even New York City) voted Obama, then why would they have to hide it? Voting McCain, in that case, would be the complete opposite of blending in with the rest of the community.

BTW, I would be interested to know what the breakdown was in terms of women vs. men voting in that particular part of Williamsburg...

thefacts

They are not hard to figure out.

#2 and #23 have it right. The Hasidim vote the way the rebbe tells them. It happens every election. Also, do I spell 'schwartze' correctly?

matty

i find it funny when jen chung makes comments addressing jcb.

it's like she's talking to her own bra.

haha.

UnrepentantFenian

Jenchungsbra hit the nail on the head.

Rach

Hahaha! It's so obvious it's because he's black. Let's be serious here.

babyhitler

special interest groups are only in it for themselves.

LinkMan

Don't the Satmars almost always vote Republican?

Let's see... We have a group of ultra-fundamentalist religious folks who prefer to pay as little as possible in taxes and keep the (evil secular) government out of their way--as long as they can get funding for their faith based initiatives and take it to the Supreme Court when public funding for their religious schools is questioned.

The Satmars have a lot more in common politically with Fundamentalist Mormons than with secular Jews.

jt10000

CR#14 - that is interesting

Rocknrope

"stable."

Read: white.

paolo mastrangelo

Ben Piven went out to Crown Heights days before the election to talk to Hasidic Jews about who they are supporting, and why. He put together a multimedia slide of those interviews here.

citizenerased

Isn't that the guy that wanked on the 72 year old in hospital the other day?

MrManhattan

Sounds like a job for Sarah Silverman if you ask me.

CR

I'm not buying those numbers and I'll tell you why. I'm fairly close with a good number of Satmar Chasidim, and most of them voted for Obama. Why? Because Obama is better for social services like unemployment, food stamps, section 8, etc. Remember that most Satmars have larger households than your average Americans and therefore social services are vital to survival. Given the economic hardships we're facing, I believe the Satmar, like a lot of other Americans, had little faith in McCain's ability to steer us out of the economic crisis.

Another things about the Satmar is that the average Chasid on the street is afraid of being viewed as different than the rest of the community. Therefore, they're likely to *say* they voted for McCain, but they actually voted for Obama.

JacqueMehoff

is this the chicken killing group?

bsalamon

its the satmars...nothing they do makes much sense

PBRK

Ya the McCain is stable argument is a laugh. Its too bad no one phoned them to tell them about McCain's illegitimate black babies.

Felix Hoenikker

Oy, vote for the schvatza?!? Go shtup yourself you putz!

McCain is the mensch for me!

neckbeard

@8 you can just tie all of those up as "religious"

jt10000

"It’s more people here are not going to go with someone [Obama] who’s not so stable."

Anyone who has watched Obama and McCain over the last year or two will recognize that the comment above is absurd - the person who made it was either ignorant, misinformed or lying.

jackdonaghy

Since when are Democrats against Israel? I hope I'm wrong, but this sounds like a racial issue.

matty

"The reason is obvious. No one should pretend that anything else was a factor.

I agree. Why do they feel that the same rights they have as a minorities should not extended to the minorities they themselves hate?

Dirk

So Obama being black had nothing to do with it? Just saying...

chris

could it be race?

Internet Handle

The reason is obvious. No one should pretend that anything else was a factor.

JenChungsBaby

It's pointless to try to analyze the Satmars as a group of individual viewpoints. They vote in a bloc -- find the one guy who told them how to vote and then ask him why he feels that way.