The Jewish Week - 10.15.2004

The Jewish Week

Gulf Widens Between Russians, Jews Here

New portrait of starkly conservative Russian speakers seen having wide implications. 

Walter Ruby - Special To The Jewish Week 

The burgeoning Russian-speaking Jewish community and the general American Jewish community — long thought to exist at a remove from one another — are growing further apart in both in their political views and their attitudes on hot-button social issues, according to a new American Jewish Committee-sponsored poll of Russians in New York. 

From their views on President Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq to the Sharon government’s disengagement plan to a federal amendment banning same-sex marriages, Russian Jews are starkly more conservative than most American Jews, according to the first detailed portrait of Russian-Jewish attitudes in four years. 

The survey of Russian Jews, who make up 20 percent of the Jewish community here, was conducted for the AJCommittee by the Research Institute for New Americans, or RINA. 

Experts predicted this week that the growing ideological gulf between the Russian community and the wider Jewish community could have wide-ranging implications from presidential politics to Israel and domestic issues. 

“It is clear that Russian Jews are more socially conservative and that together with Orthodox Jews and some younger Jews are pulling the overall Jewish community in a more conservative direction,” said Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University and author of the acclaimed “American Judaism: A History” (Yale University Press). “If this continues, we may go back to the situation that existed in the 19th century, when Jews were divided over politics and not in the pocket of either party, as they were reliably Democratic for most of the 20th century. 

“It would be clearly in the interests of the Jewish community if neither party believed it could take the Jewish vote for granted and both parties competed for our vote,” he said. 

While the American Jewish community has grown increasingly skeptical of the president’s handling of the war in Iraq — 66 percent now disapprove, up from 54 percent a year ago — Russian Jews in the AJCommittee poll approved of the war by 55 percent to 27 percent, with 18 percent undecided. (Russians favored President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, 54-14 percent, while American Jews favored Kerry, 69-24 percent.) 

In addition, while 65 percent of American Jews supported the Israeli government’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, 36 percent of Russian Jews opposed the unilateral evacuation, 34 percent backed the decision and 30 percent were not sure. 

“The most obvious feature of the survey of Russian-speaking Jews is the wide gap between the Russian-speaking Jewish community and the general American Jewish community, not only on the presidential election but on a wide variety of issues,” said David Harris, executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee. 

“American Jewish organizations that want to attract Russian Jews to become involved in their activities may find they are more Republican and conservative than their rank and file,” Harris said. “Certainly they take a more hawkish position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” 

The Russian survey, directed by Samuel Kliger, the AJCommittee’s director of Russian Jewish Affairs and president of RINA, was based on phone interviews with 789 Russian Americans here who became U.S. citizens by the time of interview. The interviews were conducted in the metropolitan area from July 20 to Aug. 25. 

The respondents were selected randomly from RINA’s database of 2,300 people, who are representative of the area’s Russian-speaking immigrant community. 

On the question of whether there should be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution making same-sex marriages unconstitutional, 81 percent of Russian Jews supported such a ban. American Jews as a whole were as overwhelmingly opposed with a 74-24 percent margin. 

The Russian-speaking and overall Jewish community also differed greatly on the notion of a Palestinian state. Russian-speaking Jews expressed opposition to the idea by 51 percent to 26 percent, with 23 percent undecided. The overall American Jewish community supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, 57-37 percent, with 6 percent undecided. 

On the question “In the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem?” only 7 percent of Russian Jews here said “yes,” while 80 percent said “no” and 13 percent were undecided. 

Answering the same question, 42 percent of American Jews expressed willingness to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction, 53 percent opposed such a compromise and 5 percent were undecided. 

The views of the two communities were closer on two other points: Israel’s building of a security fence and whether or not diaspora Jews should support Israeli government policies. 

Russian Jews supported the building of the fence, 88-5 percent, with 7 percent undecided. American Jews were emphatic but less overwhelming in their support, 69-28 percent, with 3 percent undecided. 

Russian Jews agreed with the statement “Regardless of their individual views on the peace negotiations with the Arabs, Russian-Americans should support the policies of the duly elected government of Israel” by a margin of 79-6 percent, with 14 percent undecided. American Jews backed a similar statement by 63-33 percent, with 3 percent undecided. 

On the issue of terrorism and Iraq, as well as on a number of U.S. domestic issues, the Russian Americans again held far more conservative views than did American Jews as a whole. Asked how they see themselves politically, 32 percent of the Russian Jews said Republican, 30 percent Democrat and 22 percent independent. American Jews went 54 percent Democrat, 16 percent Republican and 29 percent independent. 

(Thirty-nine percent of the Russians said they were registered Democrats and only 19 percent registered Republicans, stark evidence of how the massive swing in favor of President Bush among Russians is transforming that community politically.) 

Russian Jews expressed approval of the Bush administration conduct of the war on terrorism by 84-9 percent, with 8 percent undecided, while American Jews disapproved by a margin of 52-42 percent. 

Both communities agreed that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism against America — 45 percent of Russian Jews and 55 percent of American Jews. 

The Russians also expressed approval of Bush’s handling of the economy, 38-24 percent, with 38 percent undecided, while 73 percent of Russians answered in the affirmative when asked, “Should Americans be willing to give up some of their personal freedoms in order to make the country safe from possible terrorist attacks?” 

On one important social issue, abortion, Russians appeared to share the consensus of the American Jewish community. Sixty-six percent of Russians in the survey affirmed that abortion should be legal in any circumstance, 26 percent said legal under certain circumstances, and only 1 percent said illegal under all circumstances. 

Russians also signaled a basically secular approach to politics. Responding to the question, “Do you think the President should or should not allow his personal religious faith to guide him in making decisions as President?”16 percent of the respondents said yes and 67 percent said no. 

The Russian survey showed striking levels of unemployment and poverty in the New York Russian community, with only 41 of the respondents employed full time and 53 percent unemployed. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents reported family income of less than $30,000 a year (28 percent of employed Russians have family incomes of less than $30,000), and 15 percent have family incomes of between $30,000 to 60,000 (30 percent of employed Russians are in that range). 

The survey appeared to shatter one stereotype about Russian Jews long ingrained in the consciousness of many American Jews; namely that they don’t give charity to Jewish organizations. 

Sixty-six percent of the Russian respondents said they contributed to one or more Jewish organizations during the past year. Of these, 47 percent gave less than $50, 21 percent $50 to $99, 18 percent $100 to $199, 4 percent from $300 to $499, and 7 percent more than $500. 

Harris, who in 1997 initiated a Russian leadership program at the AJCommittee and is highly regarded in that community for his command of the Russian language and generally hawkish approach to Israel, said American Jewry should relate to the strikingly different political orientation of Russian Jews “not as a problem, but as a reality. 

“This is something that those who committed to building bridges between the two communities need to keep in mind,” Harris said. “In fact, the two communities have a lot of common ground, but as it turns out, significant differences as well.” 

Victor Topaller, a popular conservative talk show host on RTV-I, a New York based Russian language cable television station that can be seen worldwide, said he is hopeful that “Russian Jews, with their more conservative viewpoint, will begin to have a similar impact in the American Jewish community as they did in Israel, where they became a powerful political force. 

“Why the differences in opinion between American and Russian Jews? From my perspective, Russian Jews in America feel Jewish first and American second, whereas among many American Jews it is the other way around. I am not sure which community will impact the other more; both seem to me to hold strongly to their respective political perspectives.” 

Yet Alec Brook-Krasny, executive director of the Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations, the main umbrella body in the New York Russian Jewish community, believes the AJCommittee figures disguise some ambivalence in the Russian community’s political thinking. 

“It may be that Bush is ahead of Kerry among Russians, but there are still a large number of undecided voters and others who say they are for Bush could still be swayed the other way. A lot of Russians are pro-Bush based on emotion, not a deep understanding of the facts.” 

In the longer term, Brook-Krasny said, “While Russians may express pro-Republican opinions, the fact is that a big part of our community relies on social services. If those programs are cut significantly by the Republicans, we could see a shift by Russians back toward the Democrats.”