NEW YORK, July 19 (AFP) : White House hopeful Barack Obama is still struggling to convince some wary Jewish voters to close ranks behind his campaign despite their traditional support for Democratic candidates.
Obama has taken steps to reassure American Jews of his steadfast support of Israel in recent months, but polls show he has more work to do to win over a large majority of the key electorate for the November 4 election.
In May, a nationwide Gallup poll showed that 61 percent of Jews supported Obama compared to 32 per cent for Republican contender John McCain.
While the margin is wide, it is disappointing for a Democrat who should normally count on even more backing from Jews, who heavily lean Democratic.
One notable exception was in 1980, when then-president Jimmy Carter got 45 per cent of the Jewish vote compared to 39 per cent for Ronald Reagan, who won the election.
But in 2004, the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, enjoyed massive support among Jews, 74 per cent, while President George W. Bush mustered only 25 percent.
During the 2008 primary campaign, Obama's rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, had 66 per cent of support among Jews.
"It seems that Obama is having trouble overcoming the fear among some Jewish voters," JJ Goldberg, director of the Jewish weekly newspaper The Forward, told the AFP.
"It appears that he will get a majority of Jewish votes, but perhaps not as great a majority as some other Democrats have gotten," Goldberg said.
Jews make up only four percent of the US electorate, but they punch above their weight through powerful pro-Israel lobbying groups.
And their vote can also be decisive in key swing states, particularly in Florida, according to the Israel-based Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
McCain is doing better than Bush did among Jews, with seven percentage points more, while Obama has 13 points less than Kerry.
Obama's weakness lies partly in suspicion among Jews about his stance in the Middle East, Goldberg said.
Obama has pledged to hold direct talks with Iran and Syria -staunch enemies of Israel-but he also recently pledged "unshakeable" support for the Jewish state and said Jerusalem must remain its undivided capital.
