Washington Times: 75 Percent of American Jews Disapprove of Trump Despite Pro-Israel Policies, Poll Shows

October 17, 2018

By Dan Boylan

A new poll finds that a bare majority, 51 percent of Jewish American voters, approve of the way President  Trump  is handling U.S.- Israel  relations, and that 74 percent plan to vote for Democratic candidates for Congress in next month’s midterm elections.

The survey was  conducted  by the Mellman Group on behalf of the nonpartisan Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI) and polled 800 U.S. Jewish voters. Results were released Wednesday.

Overall, the poll found 75 percent of American Jewish voters disapprove of  Mr. Trump , a reflection of their partisan and ideological affiliations as it also found that 68 percent of respondents identified as Democrats, while only 25 percent said they were Republicans.

In the past year, the Trump administration has made multiple major policy moves seen as widely popular in  Israel.

Those include recognizing Jerusalem as  Israel ’s capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there, clamping down on Palestinians by cutting aid and closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington office, and withdrawing the United States from the Iran nuclear deal.

But the American Jewish community has viewed the matters far differently.

While the survey found 92 percent of respondents identified as “generally pro- Israel ,” they were particularly critical of  Mr. Trump ’s  Israel  policies with 56 percent disapproving of moving the U.S. Embassy, 62 percent disapproving of U.S. relations with the Palestinians and 70 percent disapproving of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.

Only 6 percent of American Jewish voters said  Mr. Trump ’s  Israel  policy will cause them to consider voting for him despite their disagreements with him on other important issues.

The poll was conducted online between Oct. 2-11 and selected for likely American Jewish voters. Of those polled, 92 percent indicated they are “almost certain” to vote in November. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

POLITICO: The DNC is meeting — and Israel is at the forefront once again

April 10, 2026
Democrats’ internal feud over Israel is rearing its head on the party’s biggest stage — again.  Critics of Israel’s military actions and the pro-Israel lobby’s interference in recent Democratic primaries are setting up thorny test votes at the Democratic National Committee’s spring meeting in New Orleans on Thursday, where members will debate resolutions recognizing a Palestinian state, conditioning military aid to Israel and condemning the “growing influence” of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other dark-money groups.

Survey Shows Most U.S. Jews Are Not Following Pro-Israel Spending In ’26 Primaries And Are Divided On Its Value

April 7, 2026
To: Jewish Electorate Institute From: The Mellman Group Re: Survey Shows Most U.S. Jews Are Not Following Pro-Israel Spending In ’26 Primaries And Are Divided On Its Value Date: April 6, 2026 

U.S. JEWS IDENTIFY AS BOTH PRO-ISRAEL & CRITICAL OF ITS GOV’T

April 7, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: info@jewishelectorateinstitute.org TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2026 202-695-0531 U.S. JEWS IDENTIFY AS BOTH PRO-ISRAEL & CRITICAL OF ITS GOV’T Jewish Repub’s, Indi’s Support Pro-Israel Spending in Primaries; Dems Less So AIPAC popular among R’s, not as much among D’s; DMFI better liked by D’s WASHINGTON – As the Democratic National Committee sets to convene in New Orleans this week and consider resolutions on Israel and its AIPAC lobby, a new poll for the Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI) finds the majority of American Jews identifies as both pro-Israel and critical of the Israeli Government. There is limited awareness of the spending by pro-Israel groups in the 2026 primaries, with only one in ten saying they have heard a great deal about it. Attitudes split on partisan lines with majorities of independent and Republican Jews supporting this spending, while a plurality of Democrats is opposed. But still, the majority of Democrats are either not sure or supportive, the poll finds. These are among the top findings of a survey of registered Jews nationally for the JEI by The Mellman Group, several others of which were released last week before Passover. A fuller release of all its findings will come on Friday, after the holiday ends. Further, attitudes about AIPAC and DMFI, the pro-Israel groups spending the most in these primaries, are also split on partisan lines, with AIPAC slightly underwater among Democrats, and popular among Republicans. DMFI is less known but better liked among Democrats. J Street’s numbers are relatively even but measurably smaller. This analysis is based on the findings of a survey of 800 registered Jewish voters nationally. The survey was conducted for JEI by The Mellman Group using a high-quality online national panel from March 13-23, 2026. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is +/-3.5% at the 95% level of confidence (higher for subgroups). Majority of U.S. Jews Identifies as Both Pro-Israel and Critical of Israeli Policies An overwhelming 86% of American Jews describe themselves as generally pro-Israel. However, fewer than one-quarter (23%) say they are both pro-Israel and supportive of Israeli policies. A 63% majority identifies as pro-Israel and critical of the Israeli government policies – split roughly equally between those who are critical of some policies (32%) and those critical of many (31%). Just a combined 14% say they are not generally pro-Israel (9%) or do not hold a view (5%). This trend is not dissimilar to one in the JEI poll that shows Jews are also generally patriotic towards America but also critical of some government policies, numbers for which will be released Friday.  While pro-Israel sentiment extends across party (84% of Democrats, 90% of independents, 94% of Republicans), Democrats are considerably more likely to be critical of Israeli policies (73% critical) than independents (44%) and Republicans (39%).