A new American Jewish Committee poll found that 61 percent of Jews would vote for President Obama, 28 percent would vote for Mitt Romney, and 11 percent are undecided.
This is [bad/good] news for Democrats and [good/bad] news for Republicans, given that [Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election/a September 2008 AJC poll found Obama with only 57 percent of the Jewish vote yet he secured 78 percent on Election Day].
In this and other respects, it closely resembled the poll that came out earlier this month, which was also [bad/good] news for Democrats.
[AJC head/National Jewish Democratic Council head] David Harris [said the poll showed Obama can make up the ground if he concentrates extra-hard on winning over the Jewish vote/would probably point to Romney’s 57 percent unfavorability rating and the fact that the poll tracks previous AJC polls]. Matthew Brooks, the [Republican Jewish Coalition head/random actor], by contrast, would likely [point to the wide discrepancy between 61 and 78 percent/ask why we were calling him for comment].
The number will continue to be watched closely as a bellwether of the momentum behind eventual election winner [Mitt Romney/Barack Obama].
Obama’s Jewish Support Rises Over Past Six Months, AJC Poll Finds [JTA]
Earlier: Jews Still Support Obama, Focus on Economy
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.