Hard to believe, but the elections do not center around the Jewish community, its anxieties, wishes and aspirations.
But this doesn’t mean that Jewish issues are off the table, or out of the stump speeches both candidates have been delivering in their endless rallies these past days.
Before 1776, each American colony had its own, uniquely phrased law about voter qualifications. Typically, white men over the age of 21 who owned 50 acres of land might vote, but the details varied by colony and were often a bit murky.
While the presidential race remains the state’s marquee event, several significant down-ballot races involving Jewish Democrats are also attracting attention.
A poll commissioned by the liberal, pro-Israel group J Street, conducted by the firm GBAO between October 12 and 15, found that 73 percent of Florida’s Jewish likely voters support former Vice President Joe Biden. With a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percent, the survey polled 600 of the state’s estimated 500,000 eligible Jewish voters.
On Tuesday, October 6, senior White House aide Stephen Miller confirmed his positive COVID status. Miller is one of a dozen staffers close to President Trump to have tested positive, but he’s the only one to have generated a lively Twitter conversation on the dos and don’ts of anti-Semitic tropes.
A few years ago, Moment hosted a panel at the Newseum on religion and the Supreme Court. Watch the conversation on C-SPAN here.
Just as the remarkable life she lived, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, sparked a mix of awe, appreciation and political controversy. And the coming days will provide much of the same: a celebration of the life of a trailblazing legal giant who served for many as the nation’s moral compass, and at the same time, a fierce partisan battle over the appropriate timing of choosing Bader Ginsburg’s successor.
“With so much riding on Florida’s 29 electoral votes in the presidential election, and the crucial role the state’s 450,000 Jewish voters may play in the outcome, the national Biden campaign is being cautious to the point of being cagey about what their strategy will be.”
“The bottom line is that Iran will remain a thorny issue for the next president, regardless of who wins the elections. Trump’s promise of an Iranian capitulation waiting around the corner is hard to believe, and Biden’s hope for a quick fix on the previous deal is also way more difficult to achieve than it seems, in part due to changes already happening on the ground. Iran and its nuclear ambitions are not a “first day in office” project for the next president but rather an issue for years of talks, sanctions and—perhaps—even negotiations.”
Since the pandemic began, DeSantis has aped Trump’s responses–and non-responses–to the crisis. He has refused to take significant state action to stem the now-record rising tide of COVID-19. This has included intransigent resistance to mandating the use of masks, closing the beaches and ordering a stay-at-home lockdown. Echoing Trump, he deferred to local authorities to take such action.
For Donald Trump, the road to reelection—his only viable path, experts say—runs through Florida, with its crucial 29 electoral votes. That’s why, between Labor Day and Election Day, the Republican campaign plans to spend $32 million of the $95 million TV campaign budget in Florida. As the GOP ad buy acknowledges, without the Sunshine State, Trump is a one-term president.
