Sun Sentinel: Poll Finds Jewish Voters Dislike Trump, Like Obama and Plan to Vote Democratic in Midterms

October 18, 2018

By Anthony Man

Jewish voters overwhelmingly disapprove of President Donald Trump, approve of former President Barack Obama and plan to vote Democratic in the 2018 midterm elections.

The findings come from a nationwide poll of Jewish voters released Wednesday.

More than three-quarters hold an unfavorable view of Trump — the mirror image of how American Jews view Obama, who is seen favorably by more than seven in 10 voters.

The poll of Jewish voters was conducted by a Democratic pollster for a new nonprofit organization focused on the Jewish electorate and turning out Jewish voters.

Midterms

The poll found Jewish voters overwhelmingly plan to vote for Democrats for Congress this year — 74 percent for a Democratic candidate and 26 percent for a Republican.

That is a net Democratic advantage of 48 percentage points for Democrats among Jewish voters and far more Democratic than the overall electorate.

The RealClearPolitics average of congressional ballot tests shows voters favoring the Democrats 48 percent to 41 percent, a net advantage of 7 points for the Democrats and philanthropists.

Trump

The Trump numbers among Jewish voters: 23 percent favorable; 76 percent unfavorable.

That’s a negative 53 points among Jewish voters — far more negative than the overall electorate.

The RealClearPolitics average of national polls shows 42 percent of voters have a favorable view of Trump and 54 percent have an unfavorable view. Among all voters, Trump is 12 points underwater.

By comparison, Obama was rated favorably by 72 percent and unfavorably by 28 percent of Jewish voters. There isn’t comparable national polling for the former president.

Trump is rated negatively on the way he’s handled many issues, including taxes, immigration, Supreme Court nominations, gun safety, the environment and health care.

The most positive issue area was his handling of U.S.-Israel relations, where 51 percent approved and 49 percent disapproved.

Jewish voters’ intentions in 2020 mirror their view of their president and their votes in 2016.

The poll found 74 percent said they would vote for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 and 26 percent would vote for Trump.

Exit polls  found that 71 percent of Jewish voters went for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 23 percent voted for Trump. Another 6 percent cited someone else or didn’t answer.

Democratic voting bloc

Jewish voters  long have been an important and loyal voting bloc supporting Democratic candidates, and Wednesday’s survey indicates that isn’t changing in 2016.

During presidential elections, there’s always an intense campaign to sway Jewish voters, with Republicans asserting they’re about to make major inroads. But that hasn’t happened.

Ira Sheskin, professor of geography at the University of Miami and director of the Jewish Demography Project, said in a recent interview that Jewish voters strongly identify with one party. “They vote Democratic,” he said.

The poll found 68 percent of Jewish voters identified as Democrats and 25 percent as Republicans. Also, 64 percent described themselves as liberal and 29 percent as conservative.

This year,  Jewish voters are being heavily courted  by Florida’s candidates for governor.

Republican Ron DeSantis  and  Democrat Andrew Gillum  have appeared at synagogues and met with Jewish voters to emphasize their support for the Jewish community and for Israel. DeSantis has aggressively tried to undermine Gillum with Jewish voters, and the Democrat’s camp has pushed back hard against those attempts.

Fine print

The poll of  800 Jewish voters  was conducted online through a randomly selected panel from Oct. 2 to 11. Telephone polling is considered the gold standard, but as it’s become more expensive many pollsters are moving to online models.

The pollster said the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The survey was conducted by the Mellman Group. It’s a Democratic polling outfit, but has a high rating — a “B” grade — from the independent political data organization FiveThirtyEight.

The poll was sponsored by the Jewish Electorate Institute, which describes itself as a nonprofit organization founded in August to “deepen the public’s understanding of the Jewish electorate and mobilize the Jewish vote in the 2018 midterm and future elections. The primary focus is to lead non-partisan Get Out the Jewish Vote efforts and encourage civic engagement in the Jewish community.”

It was founded by prominent Jewish Democrats.

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%).