New “I Used to be a Democrat” Ads – Is the RJC Out of Former Democrats?

By Josh Pasek

The Republican Jewish Coalition has released a new series of ads in their misleading “I Used to be a Democrat” campaign.  In rather impressive form, they sought out a number of well-known Jewish neo-conservatives for this series of advertisements — namely Ari Fleischer and Dennis Prager (1).  While both claim to have once been Democrats, the RJC’s own biography of Fleischer notes his strong connections to the Republican party dating back to 1983, only one year after he graduated from Middlebury College (2), and Prager has been broadcasting his neo-conservative Jewish radio show for over 25 years and is a regular columnist for Townhall.com, a website which lauds itself as “the first conservative web community” (3).

We at RJCWatch have one really simple question for the RJC: Are there really so few Democrats becoming Republicans today that you need to look to neo-conservatives who switched affiliation in the 1980’s?

“I Used to be a Democrat” Ads Misleading

By Josh Pasek

Identifying non-existent trends

In February of 2008, the Republican Jewish Coalition launched a new advertising campaign called “I Used to be a Democrat.” The campaign highlights individuals who were formerly registered Democrats and have more recently registered as Republicans. While any given individual may have switched party registration, the ads are meant to convey a sentiment stated by RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks:

The ads reflect the movement we’ve witnessed for years: More and more American Jews express serious misgivings with the direction of the Democratic Party. Again and again, they are finding that the Republican Party better represents their concerns ranging from national security to the well-being of the state of Israel. (1)

While Brooks may claim to have witnessed such a migration, polling data has not. In the American Jewish Committee 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 58% of American Jews identified as Democrats, down only one percent from the 59% recorded in the 2000 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion. The difference is well within the survey’s margin of error. (2)

What transformed the “I Used to be a Democrat” voters from Republicans to Democrats according to the ads? In two cases it was 9/11, and in two cases, the transformation is linked to Joe Lieberman (one case mentions both). While these events may have driven the three listed individuals to reregister, suggesting that a broader change is afoot runs directly contrary to available data. Indeed, there has been no noticeable drop in Jewish Democratic registration over a time period spanning both events.