When politics overpowers reason

Much has been written about the Quinnipiac poll regarding the handling of foreign policy by the Obama Administration. One aspect in particular is most peculiar: the reaction of Jews to Obama's dealings with Israel. When asked if they approve Obama's handling of relations with Israel,all voters disapproved by a margin of 44 to 35%. Jews, however, disapproved by a margin of 67 to 28%. This is not surprising since Jews pay more attention to relations with Israel than other groups and the recent disputes between Israel and the USA would be better known to them. The crazy thing is that when the same people were polled as to whether or not Obama was a strong supporter of Israel, they split 42-34% that he was not. This is almost exactly the same split as those who disapprove of his handling of relations with Israel. Among Jews, however, by a margin of 50 to 46% the view was that Obama is a strong supporter of Israel. Huh? How can 2/3 disapprove of Obama's policies but a majority think he is a strong supporter of Israel? The answer comes when one looks at all of the other questions in the poll. On every other foreign policy question, Jews support Obama by higher numbers than Protestants or Catholics or, indeed, any other group aside from blacks. I guess that affiliation to the Democrats is just too strong to allow for the reality of the situation to get into the views of most Jews. I wonder if this will change as the Obama foreign policy (or the lack of a coherent one) continues as we move towards 2012.