Abstract
From at least as far back as the election of Abraham Lincoln, political pundits in America have speculated about the “Jewish vote” and its impact. The first known political broadside directed toward Jews, produced by the Jewish Union Republican Association, dates to 1864. Since, in Lincoln’s day, only about five out of every thousand Americans were Jews and today that number may not exceed 20 per thousand, one wonders why anybody cares about Jews’ political proclivities. The “Jewish vote” would seem far too small to matter.