CNN: In battleground Pennsylvania, undecided Jewish voters could help swing the election
By Dana Bash and Courtney Pence, CNN
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania CNN -
When Stephanie Spielman describes how she feels as a Jewish voter this election year, she is visibly despondent.
“There’s a feeling of real emptiness, kind of hollowness,” she said.
A lifelong Pennsylvania Democrat who usually votes blue, up and down the ticket, Spielman left the Democratic Party this year.
“I do not believe they are seriously supporting the Jewish community. They are not seriously engaging with us,” she said, walking down a leafy suburban Philadelphia street – one whose residents are crucial to the outcome of this election.
...The Republican Jewish Coalition has spent years building data on Jewish voters in swing states, according to the group’s CEO, Matt Brooks.
“We know, almost to a voter, what the issues are that motivate them, and we can deliver a message,” Brooks said in an interview.
“For instance, there are people who care deeply about Israel. There are people who care deeply about the issue of antisemitism. But there’s also people in the Jewish community who care deeply about the economy, rising interest rates, the cost of food and gasoline,” he added.
CNN followed canvassers with the coalition over the weekend here around Bala Cynwyd, a small town in the Philadelphia suburb of Montgomery County, which has a relatively large Jewish population.
They used an app on their phones fueled by data the Republican Jewish Coalition has collected that told them exactly which doors to knock on: Jews likely to vote Republican.
One of the volunteers was former Florida Rep. Peter Deutsch – a Democrat who endorsed Trump earlier this month. He said he is camping out in Pennsylvania through Election Day at his own expense, making the case to Jewish voters – especially Democrats like himself – that Harris can’t be trusted to support Israel.
“To me, the most important thing that the president of the United States does is try to achieve and maintain world peace, and I don’t think it’s a close call on those issues in terms of Trump versus Harris,” Deutsch said, adding that the vice president continues to speak in a way about Israel that “validates” his decision.
Read more (and see accompanying video and photos) at the CNN website.