Obama Holds On to His Jewish Supporters

Democrat Barack Obama currently does better among Jewish voters than presumed Republican nominee John McCain, according to a Gallup Poll released today. He continued to trail opponent Hillary Clinton slightly among Jewish Democrats interviewed in April. But this looks to be good news for Obama, who has battled persistent and false Internet rumors that he is Muslim. And he appears to have maintained his Jewish support after breaking last month with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has called Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan one of the most important voices of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In a hypothetical Election Day matchup, Obama was preferred by 61 percent of Jewish voters, and McCain by 32 percent, according to the poll. The same voters said that they preferred Clinton over McCain, 66 percent to 27 percent. The poll found no recent decline in the percentage of Jewish Democrats favoring Obama for their party's nomination, though overall they continued to favor Clinton, 50 percent to 43 percent, reflecting the well-documented divide in the community over the two candidates. (A similar poll in April showed that 51 percent of Jewish voters surveyed preferred Clinton, and 41 picked Obama.)

—Liz Halloran