Josh Kazis Writes: Florida will mark the first primary state with a large number of Jewish voters. Although most of the state’s more than half a million Jews are Democrats, 2008 exit polls showed that 3% of Florida Republican primary voters were Jewish. Only a handful of South Carolina Republican primary voters are Jews.
It’s not clear whether Republican Jews’ votes will favor Romney or Gingrich. The Gingrich campaign continues its outreach to Jewish voters in Florida, with an event with the Republican Jewish Coalition scheduled in south Florida days before the January 31 primary.
But many of the state’s big-name Jewish fundraisers, including Ambassadors Ned Siegel and Mel Sembler, are Romney donors.
Romney supporter Jack Davidson, 80, a retired Ohio resident who winters in Delray Beach, conceded that Gingrich is “brilliant.” But Davidson, who votes in Ohio, said that he wouldn’t vote for the former House Speaker. “He’s nasty, in my mind. I don’t like nasty guys, even if they might be Republicans,” Davidson said.
