Jobs, economy the deciding factors for US electorate

Irish-Americans, like the rest of the US electorate, will be concerned with jobs and the economy, writes Gary Murphy

ABOUT 36m Americans — estimated at 11.9% of the total population — claimed some form of Irish ancestry in the 2008 American community survey, conducted by the US census bureau. Another 3.5m Americans identified more specifically with Scottish-Irish ancestry.

Irish-American political leaders have played a major role in local and national politics since before the American War of Independence, and no fewer than 22 presidents from Andrew Jackson, elected in 1828, to Barack Obama claim to have some Irish ancestry.