David Kafrissen
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
October 23, 2008
In South Orange, a liberal bastion as proud of its cafes and art galleries as it is of the racial and ethnic diversity it shares with neighboring Maplewood, Obama lawn signs are everywhere and McCain signs are rare.
It’s not surprising, then, that an unscientific canvassing of Jewish voters there finds overwhelming support for Sen. Barack Obama for president.
On a recent Sunday morning, parents waited to pick up their children from religious school at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform synagogue.
Every one of the 10 voters surveyed, ranging from their mid-30s through their late 50s, including five men and five women, said they planned to vote for Obama. Most are lifelong Democrats.
Their issues include the economy, health care, abortion, the Iraq war, the need for change, and leadership qualities. None mentioned Israel or national security. A large number ridiculed the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin for the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket and expressed their support for “educated” leaders rather than “populist” candidates.
Lee Smith
Laura Woolfson, 45, of Millburn, named the economy, global warming, and defending social programs against budget cuts as her top issues. But she also focused on President George Bush. A registered Democrat, she has never voted Republican.
“We’ve had Bush for eight years. Now we want somebody new to change things around. Things are so bad in so many areas.”
Tom Shea, 46, of Short Hills, said he is “primarily interested in getting us out of the war.” But he also focused on the economic crisis, saying the country is “on the wrong track,” and thinks we need someone like Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Theodore Roosevelt to help.
FDR, he said, was “someone who was not afraid of putting government money into public works and projects to get people working again.” Shea also pointed to Theodore Roosevelt’s ability to “take on the robber barons and the industrialists and the railroad cartels and monopolies in the early 1900s. I’m not sure Obama can do all those things but I think he’s a little bit more likely to do that than McCain.”
Shea was among several voters at Sharey Tefilo-Israel who was also looking for “excellence” rather than populism. “Intelligence is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said.
Laura Woolfson
A registered Democrat, Shea has voted for Republicans John Anderson, Ronald Reagan, and Ross Perot, although since Bill Clinton he has voted Democratic.
Andrea Bergman, 44, of Millburn, was concerned about women’s issues and the candidates’ intellectual ability. She is turned off by Palin. “Listening to her is funny but scary,” she said. “I feel you have to respect [the candidates] in a certain way. I’m a soccer mom. I work. I don’t have special needs children” — unlike Palin, whose youngest child has Down Syndrome — “but that shouldn’t be a reason why she is qualified.”
Supporting local business
Lisa Olender, 40, of South Orange, said she is focused on health care and support for small businesses. She comes from a family of “hard-core Democrats,” she said, and would not consider voting Republican.
Citing the economy as his key issue, Lee Smith, 49, of Maplewood expressed concern with “income inequities we’ve been seeing growing wider and wider over the last eight years and even longer.”
He also pointed to Obama’s intellect. “Obama is far and away more enlightened and smarter and more capable than McCain,” said Smith. And, he added, McCain’s “personal temperament seems a bit unstable to me. And the lessons you think he might have learned in Vietnam don’t seem to have been lessons that he’s brought forward.”
Although at times registered as an Independent, Smith is a registered Democrat.
Brian Simon, 46, and his wife, Susan Norkin, 42, of Millburn both support Obama. Simon has never voted Republican, but Norkin has. Simon initially pointed to party loyalty as a reason for supporting Obama, but went on to focus on religion and competence.
“The Republican Party is too much dominated by the religious right; that is unacceptable to me. Obama is smarter, more of a leader, more articulate, and will surround himself with stronger people to guide us through these times.” He called McCain’s choice of Palin “one of the most absurd decisions I’ve ever seen someone running for president ever make.”
Norkin said that social issues are among many that concern her. “I can’t agree with the Republicans on abortion, family planning, health care.” But she also said she’s been “turned off” by McCain’s “negative”campaigning.
Terry Sullivan
Terry Sullivan, 59, of Maplewood is voting for Obama “because he’s an honorable man, he’s an honest man, he’s hopeful, he’s cool, he’s very, very smart….”
Like Norkin, he objected to some of McCain’s campaign tactics, especially “trying to tag [Obama] with the idea that he’s a terrorist, if not a Muslim. It’s bizarre.”
Karen Wolf, 38, of South Orange, also a Democrat, said she liked McCain — until he brought Palin on board.
“I found her to be absolutely scary to the American public. I don’t think she has any real intellect or experience, and her views are way over to the right.” A registered Democrat, Wolf has never voted Republican.
David Kafrissen, 39, of Maplewood always votes Democratic. He initially supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, based on her health care plan and still has concerns about Obama’s health care plan and his stances on gun control and the environment. “I’m more progressive than I think Obama is on these issues,” he said.
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