TAMPA (WFLA) – On the eve of President Trump announcing his re-election plans in Florida, there’s a push to convince more Jewish voters to vote Republican.
The Governor’s recent trip to Israel could start tipping the balance towards the GOP and help the President’s re-election campaign becoming Governor was a race Ron Desantis won by just over 32,000 votes.
In Florida, Jewish voters are about 5 percent of the electorate.
A 2018 CNN exit poll found 19 percent of Jews voted Republican that’s more than double DeSantis’s victory margin.
So will the Governor’s trip to Israel pay future political dividends?
Pres. Zionist Organization of America Mort Klein said it will.
“Governor DeSantis, as a Congressman, was the greatest friend supporting US Israel relationships in the United States,” said Klein. “Republicans have become much stronger supporters of US, Israeli relations than Democrats. That wasn’t true 20 or 30 years ago.”
State Representative Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the State Legislature agreed, Democrats, tend to fall behind in their support for Israel.
“In many corners of the other side, being an antisemite is seen as some sort of a badge of honor, and that’s not okay,” said Fine.
While waiting for the Governor at the Western Wall in Jerusalem we met two Miami men, Yechiel Cinert and Joseph Leuchter.
Both were Jewish voted for DeSantis.
“The Republican Party has morphed into you know, this Pro-Israel party, right, even more so that the Democratic Party, which I think, you know, hasn’t fallen on deaf ears,” said Cinert.
“Also there’s a latent, there’s antisemitic elements in the Democratic Party,” said Leuchter.
Big elections in Flordia are decided by less than one percent so any movement in Jewish voters can have a big impact.
“I have a lot of Republicans come to me and say, my gosh, how can any Jews vote or vote for a Democrat given Israel, but I think that’s very simplistic to view Jewish voters that way,” said DeSantis.
It’s not an accident the President begins his reelection campaign in the biggest swing state where its Governor is Israel’s best friend.
Florida Jews make up about 3.5 percent of Florida’s population, but account for about 5 percent of all registered voters in the state.
