Poll Asks Jews Loaded Questions About Obama

Republican group does "message testing" on Dem's weak points

By Gabriel Winant, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 17, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

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Poll Asks Jews Loaded Questions About Obama — Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to supporters during a town hall-style meeting at a synagogue in Boca Raton, Fla. Thursday, May 22, 2008. Obama promised an "unshakable commitment" to Israel if he is elected, and stressed that he would not negotiate with the militant... (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

A Republican group has taken credit for a new poll that asks loaded questions about Barack Obama and has caused a ruckus in the Jewish community, reports Politico. The poll seeks responses to provocative statements linking Obama with various groups and people hostile to Israel. While most of the statements are at least partly true, they fail to mention Obama’s largely friendly relationship with the Jewish community.

While the poll sponsors have denied that they are intended to suggest Obama is Muslim, the survey is a laundry list of connections—in some cases indirect—to Muslims here and in the Middle East, including a supposed endorsement by Hamas. A spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition described the poll as an effort to “understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters.” Summer polls showed Obama winning about two-thirds of Jewish votes.
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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