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May 5, 2000/30 Nisan 5760, Vol. 52, No.35
Poll: U.S. Jews increasingly rooted in society
J.J. GOLDBERG
New Jersey Jewish News
WHIPPANY, N.J. - Jews are more likely than members of any other American ethnic group to purchase a hardcover book or attend a live musical performance in the coming year, but they're much less likely to buy a car, truck, recreational vehicle or major home appliance.
Their earning power outstrips any other ethnic group, yet they continue to vote very much the way blacks and Hispanics do.
These statistics are part of an intriguing new portrait of American Jews that has emerged from a groundbreaking study of ethnic America. Conducted last winter by Zogby International in cooperation with the New Jersey Jewish News, the Zogby Culture Polls attempt to shed new light on American ethnic groups by examining them side-by-side.
The study consists of identical surveys administered simultaneously to six ethnic groups: Jews, Hispanics, and Asian, African, Arab and Italian Americans. The result is perhaps the first fully rounded statistical snapshot of America's ethnic mosaic.
The surveys were conducted Dec. 14 to Feb. 7. Sample sizes varied, as did margins of error. The Jewish sample numbered 589 people, with a 4.1 percent margin of error.
The portrait of American Jews that emerges from the poll is at once familiar and surprising. Jews are increasingly rooted in America, the survey confirms. Less than one-third are immigrants or children of immigrants, a percentage similar to that of Italian Americans but far less than the numbers for newer arrivals such as Hispanic, Asian or Arab Americans.
Moreover, Jews have achieved an extraordinary measure of success. Six out of 10 Jewish adults have a college degree, more than any group except Asians. More than 41 percent report a household income of $75,000 or more, far above any other group surveyed.
And yet Jews still view themselves as a minority, and that self-image clearly shapes their view of their world.
Close to 90 percent say their ethnic heritage is "very" or "somewhat" important to them, comparable to blacks, Hispanics or Arab Americans, but far beyond Italian Americans. And nearly 60 percent report having experienced discrimination because of their ethnic heritage, more than any other group except blacks.
Fully half of Jews report having a "strong emotional tie" to their "country of ethnic heritage" - less than Hispanics, at 62 percent, or Arab Americans, at 56 percent, but more than Asian Americans, at 43 percent, or Italian Americans, at 37.5 percent.
What is particularly striking is that unlike the other groups, the country to which Jews are attached is not one their grandparents came from, but Israel, one which for the most part they have only read of in books or heard of in synagogue.
The researchers pointed to the very distinctiveness of the Jews as an identifiable community, with its own patterns of behavior and values, as the most striking finding of the poll of Jews.
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