Decision 2016 Not Easy for Some Jewish Students at BC

By JOSEPH MODICA

Democratic presidential candidates have long dominated the Jewish vote in New York City, but interviews with Jewish Brooklyn College students show that they are having a hard time deciding whom to choose this year.

“‘[I don’t] believe I should vote for the lesser of two evils,” says Danny Speiser, a business administration major. Speiser would rather vote for independent third party candidate Evan McMullin, who styles himself as the alternate conservative candidate.

According to Jewish Virtual Library, Jews make up almost 11 percent of the total population in New York. In the primaries, both Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton appealed to this demographic with a strong pro-Israel position, giving them a big advantage over their rivals, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

“Historically in New York, [Jews] favor the left end,” said Allan Amanik, an assistant professor at Brooklyn College who specializes in Jewish history in America. He said Jewish people tend to vote based on faith, family values, positions on Israel, and socio-economic status, a seeming turnaround from what in the past was assumed to be a generally leftwing attitude. But according to Amanik, this resulted from increased greater political awareness.

“[Jews] at the turn of the century invested in social activism, policy, development,” Amanik said. “If you look at Jewish people from the former Soviet Union, more recently arrived, they don’t classify themselves as conservative.”

Historically, Democrats have had no problem securing the Jewish vote in New York, with Obama took 69 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, Kerry had 76 percent in 2004, and Gore had 79 percent in 2000, according to Jewish Virtual Library. Republicans do court Jewish voters, according to the book “Jews in American Politics,” edited by Sandy Maisel and Ira N. Forman. It said that in 1980, Reagan nearly caught up with his political opponents by netting about 40 percent of Jewish supporters with his strong support of Israel.

On campus, neither presidential candidate is finding warm support. Jewish college students have cited their mixed feelings caused by the candidates’ policies, controversies, and how they present themselves.

Carl Berg, an Orthodox Jewish student and biology major, said that he “doesn’t like either candidate.” He said he firmly believes that “Trump will pick himself over everything else” and that “Hillary hasn’t answered questions on corruption.”

Another Jewish student at the college, Nina Steinfeld, plans on voting for Clinton this election, saying that she is “better of my two poisons.” She disagrees with Trump’s policy of not letting Muslims come into the country; it reminds her too much of how Jewish immigration was blocked during the Holocaust. She adds however that she wouldn’t vote if she, “had a better choice.”

Meir Beker, an aspiring engineer who identifies as Orthodox, is dismayed by both candidates. “The position of leader is a great weight – president is a messenger of the people. The president works for the people and should listen to them,” he said. He described Trump’s speeches as “uncomfortable” and said that both candidates “lack integrity.”

A few other students share a more pointed opinion on this election.

“Trump is a Dumpster, Hillary is a Dumpster fire,” said Daniel Sasson, a Jewish student.

”Debates are a joke because of how they’re acting,” said David Cohen, a marketing major who doesn’t plan on voting.
Yosef Gunsburg, a psychology major, said that “Trump is not playing a policy, he’s playing a person,” while Isaac Shuster, an Orthodox Jewish student, said simply that he “doesn’t trust Hillary.”