Correction appended
“He still seems to be the most viable candidate,” Epstein said, even as media elites predict a Santorum-Gingrich ticket in a brokered convention.
Epstein is no casual voter. She is currently taking a class taught by Democratic strategist James Carville, where she and her peers are studying the presidential election with the help of professional journalists like TIME Magazine’s Mark Halperin. She also worked in the office of her representative, Congresswoman Sue Myrick, R-NC.
But contrary to the liberal Jewish stereotype, Epstein is both Jewish and conservative. Her father, born Jewish, and mother, a Jewish convert, raised her in Charlotte, North Carolina and she attended Jewish summer camp in Georgia.
While a member of a Jewish sorority, she She isn’t as connected to Judaism now that she’s in college, she says, but she does have a lot of Jewish friends (which is easy to do at Tulane, where 32 percent of the undergraduates are People of the Book, according to Hillel International).
Though Epstein has not been as involved in Jewish life as she was before coming to college, her religion still plays a role in how she votes.
“Judaism as a whole promotes equal opportunity and freedom,” Epstein said, explaining that Judaism does fit into the conservative mindset.
Nowhere is that more obvious to Epstein than her views on Israel. Though it’s meant to be a non-partisan issue, Epstein said supporting Israel was a more conservative principle. And she said the same goes for most people who end up visiting Israel; it becomes a core value by which they vote.
“Israel,” Epstein said, “is a huge part of how religion plays a role in my political preferences.”
Correction: This post previously stated that Epstein was a member of a Jewish sorority.
