To answer these questions, Prof. Steven M. Cohen of the Hebrew University prepared a follow-up questionnaire. During September and October 2000 over 1300 respondents, all of whom participated in the first survey, responded to it. A concise analysis of the relevant data is presented here.

Although the survey did not detect any dramatic shifts in attitude, one can detect some interesting variations. On certain issues, such as the involvement of churches and synagogues in political matters or support for tuition vouchers, both Jews and non-Jews seem to have become more skeptical. The data arguably show an increased wariness, at least among Jews, regarding the presence of religion in public affairs. The high visibility of religion in the campaign may have occasioned a small backlash. Far from having moved them toward more tolerance for religion in public life, Sen. Lieberman's campaign seems to have convinced many Jews to continue to oppose it.

I would like to thank Prof. Cohen for his preparation of these materials under the pressure of a pre-election deadline. I would also like to thank The Pew Charitable Trusts for their support of Jews and the American Public Square. The findings expressed in this study are the views of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Trusts.

American Jews reacted highly favorably to the nomination of Senator Joseph Lieberman as the Democratic candidate for Vice-President. Nevertheless, they remain as committed as before the nomination to the strict separation of church and state. More than others, they seek to keep religion out of public life in general, and politics in particular. In fact, if anything, the over-time evidence points to a possible small intensification of separationist attitudes among American Jews (and non-Jews) following the Lieberman nomination.

These findings emerge from a survey of a national sample of American Jews (N= 837) and a demographically adjusted sample of non-Jews (whites only, fewer Southerners, more highly educated than the American population generally; N = 501) in September/October, 2000. The same respondents answered a comparable mail-back survey in February, permitting a comparison of over-time trends. (The response rates in the fall were 84% for Jews and 73% for the non-Jewish respondents. All those receiving the fall questionnaire had responded to the previous survey in February.)

Jews more enthusiastically welcomed the Lieberman nomination than non-Jews. At the same time, Jews remain insecure about their acceptance in American society, perceiving antisemitism substantially more frequently than non-Jews. More than non-Jews, they oppose candidates expressing fervent religious commitment in public, even when expressed by a candidate so admired as Senator Joseph Lieberman.

In particular ...

With respect to seven questions on religious accommodation/separation in the public schools (Table 1), both Jews and non-Jews today register small changes from the February baseline findings. However, the changes are non-uniform (in both directions). For example, slightly fewer respondents support vouchers for private and parochial schools (declines of five percentage points for non-Jews and just two points for Jews), but somewhat more (three and five percent for non-Jews and Jews respectively) support allowing students to say non-sectarian prayers at sporting events (a practice that the Supreme Court recently held to be unconstitutional). Most critically, non-Jews remain far more accommodationist (i.e., less separationist) than Jews. For example, 85% of non-Jews as compared with 49% of Jews favor a moment of silence for public school students to pray if they want to.

In questions about religion in public life (Table 2), the results also point to relative stability. To illustrate, both Gentile and Jewish respondents hold essentially the same views as in the previous survey toward the need for more laws governing moral behavior, the availability of abortion, and the desirability of Congress opening its sessions with a prayer. On all these matters, more non-Jews express accommodationist or "conservative" views than Jews, not surprising in light of Jews' continued greater self-identification as liberals and as Democrats. For example, fully 75% of non-Jews approve of Congress opening with a prayer as contrasted with just 31% of Jews.

With respect to excluding churches/synagogues and organized religion from politics, or the related matter of the desirability of increasing the influence of religion in American life, small changes among both groups emerge. Both Jews and non-Jews express somewhat less support for such religious institutional involvement in politics than they did in February, although the differences from one survey to the next are small. For example, the proportions supporting the view that churches and synagogues should keep out of political matters grew from 36% to 42% among non-Jews, and from 44% to 49% among Jews.

The survey also questioned respondents about their views of the national election campaign (Table 3). Jews are somewhat more engaged in following the campaign from a variety of news sources. More Jews than non-Jews said the outcome is very important to them (64% versus 52%), and by a small margin, more had made a financial donation to a party or campaign.

Jews lean heavily toward the Democrats (Table 4). The non-Jews are divided between Bush and Gore, though lean slightly toward Gore, reflecting their special demographic character in this study. (The Gentile sample was constructed to resemble Jews in terms of their regional and educational distributions.) In contrasting their September voting intentions with those they recalled prior to the selection of Vice Presidential candidates, both groups report a small inferred shift in favor of the Democrats (eight points among non-Jews and eleven points among Jews). Jews have strong favorable impressions of Gore and Lieberman, and largely unfavorable impressions of Bush and Cheney (Table 5). On balance, non-Jews report favorable impressions of all four candidates. For both Jews and non-Jews, Lieberman garners the largest ratio of favorable to unfavorable impressions.

Jews are far more disturbed than non-Jews by the high profile of religion in the presidential campaign, both globally and with respect to specific actions of each of the four major candidates (Table 6). For example, almost four times as many non-Jews as Jews approve of Richard Cheney's support for prayer in schools (59% versus 16%), and a similar ratio among non-Jews and Jews support politicians speaking about their faith in public (52% versus 16%). Concerning Lieberman's references to God and quoting from the Bible, twice as many non-Jews as Jews express approval.

Few Jews or non-Jews are prepared to criticize Lieberman for being too liberal or too conservative (Table 7). Although, by small margins, more Jews think he is too conservative, and more non-Jews think he is too liberal. Both groups see Lieberman as more of an asset than a liability to the Gore campaign, and more Jews than non-Jews hold that view. Both groups, on balance, are happy that a Jew was nominated for high office (84% of Jews, 45% of non-Jews) and especially a religious Jew (55% and 39% respectively), but the differences between Jews and non-Jews are instructive. Among non-Jews, the positive reactions to a "religious Jew" as a candidate are almost as frequent as those to "a Jew" being nominated (39% versus 45%). Among Jews, however, a substantial gap separates the very large degree of happiness over a Jew being nominated with the more limited enthusiasm they express for a religious Jew (55% versus 84%). The results suggest that a substantial number of Jews are happy that a Jew was nominated, but they did not feel especially happy that he was a religious Jew. In contrast, very few non-Jews expressed this configuration of sentiments. The majority of non-Jews who were happy that a Jew was nominated, were also especially pleased that he is a religious Jew.

Jews retain the same levels of concern for antisemitism in America (Table 9) as they did in February (although presumably, such concerns have risen since the outbreak of violence in Israel). The only noticeable change in their views seems to be an increased assessment of antisemitism among Southern Baptists and possibly declining concern for antisemitism among Fundamentalist Protestants (Table 10).

The survey asked non-Jews (Table 11) for their views on the prevalence of antisemitism in the U.S. (not asked of them in February). Fewer non-Jews than Jews perceive antisemitism or, express concern about the issue. Twice as many non-Jews as Jews (40% versus 22%) believe that Jews have been fully accepted in America. Following the Lieberman nomination, twice as many Jews as non-Jews worried about antisemitism (64% versus 32%; Table 9).

Significantly, very small numbers of Jews or non-Jews endorse statements seemingly critical of Jews, even those that may have some empirical plausibility. Hardly anyone (Jew or Gentile), would agree that Jews dominate the entertainment industry that promotes freedom from all sexual restraint (6% and 9%).

Majorities of both groups (with small differences between them) think that Jews need not abandon their practices or their observance to succeed in American society (Jews: 60%; non-Jews: 66%). At the same time about half (more among Jews, fewer among non-Jews) are not sure that Jewish politicians are hurt by their being Jewish.