Sometimes, something comes out that, even I not some one who works in stats (not yet anyways) can poke holes in the assumptions. It would be nice to say on some level, "ah ha" liberals hate Jews more then conservatives (look at pie chart). The answer SEEMS to be in their follow up questions (how much “individuals who took out loans and mortgages they could not afford” were to blame). From what I understand, historically, blacks and Jews don't particularly get along. I also tend to think that Democrats tend to be rich or poor and not, relatively speaking, middle class. So, you're more likely to get people who base their judgments on snap "simplified" judgements, and want to "screw" the big guys. Also, using jews as the control group as they do elsewhere seems silly. What, 90% of Jews vote democrat? And we all are more sensitive to "our" own in groups stereotypes.
I also wonder just what percent Jews do represent of the people in charge of these large companies who took out massive bets on the housing market through CDSs, etc. Or how many Jews were "quants" on wall street, or how many Jews were involved in the stupid government rules, that helped to create the incentive structures the companies faced. That doesn't mean "the Jews" are to blame for the crisis (duh!), but just like we tend to be overrepresented in "high education level" jobs, we're probably overrepresented in these areas too. Although, we're probably overrepresented in the group of people trying to get the economy out of this mess, too. Ah well, people are always looking for scapegoats.
It is a bit depressing that around 25% of the population "blames the jews". Although, I'm not quite to the point of making sure my passport and luggage (and diamond hidden in my walking stick) are ready.
