Sure, Joe Lieberman was very popular among Jewish voters in 2000, but would his inclusion on the Republican presidential ticket this year inspire significant numbers of them to jump to the GOP? Jewish McCain supporters say yes, but a recent poll indicates the Connecticut senator might not be much of a draw anymore among his non-Republican co-religionists.

Lieberman had just a 37 percent overall favorability rating in a survey of 800 self-identified American Jews released last month by the dovish J Street organization, with 48 percent expressing disapproval of the now independent senator. And Jim Gerstein — principal of Gerstein Agne Strategic Communiciations, which conducted the poll — noted that a good percentage of that favoribility rating comes from Jewish GOPers, who registered 65 percent approval for Lieberman, compared to just 25 percent among Democrats and 45 percent for independents. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

Furthermore, the stats show that older Jews who were enamored at the first Jewish vice presidential candidate in places like Florida aren’t any more favorably disposed to Lieberman — he has the same 37 percent approval rating among Jews over 64 that he receives from the overall population, and a higher disapproval rate of 53 percent. In addition, Orthodox Jews — the most likely denomination of the Jewish community to be Republicans — has a huge 76 percent approval rating for Lieberman, but Reform Jews only give him a 34 percent positive rating.

“The bottom line is Lieberman doesn’t help McCain” among Jews, said Gerstein, because many Jews are upset at Lieberman’s departure from the Democratic Party and strident support for the Iraq war.

National Jewish Democratic Council executive director Ira Forman agrees. “First of all, I’d be very surprised if Lieberman was selected,” said Forman. But if he was, he doubts he has much extra appeal, noting that the Democratic vote for president only rose 1 percent from 1996 to 2000. If Lieberman truly made a difference to Jews, “you would think you’d have seen some difference” with him on the ticket.

But Jewish Republicans say they would be very comfortable with the Connecticut senator as McCain’s running mate, and should help their efforts to bring more Jews over to the GOP side. “I certainly hope he would,” said Fred Zeidman, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member from Houston. “I’d like to believe the Jewish community would embrace him.” Zeidman said he had been on the road campaigning for Jewish votes with Lieberman in Michigan, and noted 300 people had turned out to hear him speak at a Holocaust museum in Detroit.

McCain supporter Gary Erlbaum of Philadelphia, who has financially backed candidates of both parties over the years, said he thinks Lieberman would still be a draw for Jewish voters. “Joe has made friends and lost friends,” he said. “He would be a great asset” in attracting independents and Jews. But Erlbaum doubts Lieberman will be McCain’s pick, since the number of voters it could attract would be outweighed by the alienation of so many conservatives.

J Street has a new poll out, with plenty to digest about the views of American Jews on Middle East issues.

For now … here’s our brief about the presidential election. In most cases 60 percent isn’t something to sneeze at, but that’s a double-digit drop from John Kerry — in the same poll in which American Jews gave President Bush a 79-percent disapproval rating:

American Jews are less supportive of Barack Obama than previous Democratic nominees, a new poll found.

The lack of support comes despite overwhelming unhappiness with the Bush administration.

The survey, commissioned by the Washington-based advocacy organization J Street, found that only 58 percent of American Jews said they would definitely vote for Obama, an Illinois senator. Another 4 percent said they were leaning toward the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In contrast, Al Gore and Bill Clinton both drew approximately 80 percent of the Jewish vote in their respective runs for the presidency, while John Kerry garnered about 76 percent in 2004.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they would vote for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), with 3 percent saying they were leaning toward the presumptive GOP nominee. That would represent a higher showing among Jews than the 24 percent President Bush drew in 2004.

The poll, conducted by Gerstein/Agne Strategic Communications and based on interviews with 800 respondents, has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

Even as American Jews appear to be displaying some reservations about Obama, they are highly critical of the current White House.

According to the poll, 90 percent of American Jews believe the country is on the wrong track.

Seventy percent said they strongly disapprove of how the president is handling his job, with another 14 percent saying they somewhat disapprove. Bush scored a disapproval rating of 79 percent of his handling of the Iraq war and 71 percent for his handling of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

UPDATE: Should have mentioned that these results line up with a Gallup Poll.

UPDATED: Also forgot to mention that Jeremiah Wright registered a high and intense disapproval rating.

Gallup has new poll data out showing that “religious intensity predicts support for McCain.” Jews are no exception — except that they are.

Only 39% of U.S. Jews report that religion is important in their daily lives, well below the overall national average. Among this smaller group of religious Jews, however, Obama and McCain break even, 45% to 45%. This compares to Obama’s 68% to 26% lead among the majority of Jews for whom religion is not important.

So, yes, like in many other faith groups, Jews who value religion are more likely to back McCain than Jews who don’t. In fact, the gap between religious and non-religious is widest within the Jewish community (Obama won the latter group 68 percent to 26 percent).

At the same time, despite that wide gap, Obama does better with Jews who say religion is important (45%) than he does with white Catholics (37 percent) and white Protestants (27 percent) in that same category.

From Quinnipiac:

• Florida: Obama edges McCain 47 - 43 percent
• Ohio: Obama tops McCain 48 - 42 percent
• Pennsylvania: Obama leads McCain 52 - 40 percent

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