JTA: American Jews concerned about anti-Semitism and disapprove of Trump, survey finds

May 22, 2019

By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON ( JTA) — A survey of American Jews showed continued disapproval of President Donald Trump, with anti-Semitism high and Israel low on the priority list for Jewish voters.

The survey, conducted for a liberal-leaning Jewish organization, the Jewish Electorate Institute, by Greenberg Research, which does polling for Democratic candidates, showed 71 percent of Jewish American likely voters disapproved of Trump and 29 percent approved, commensurate with polling since Trump’s election.

A generic Democrat would score 67 percent of the Jewish vote in the presidential election, while Trump would get just 23 percent.

The survey released Wednesday of 1,000 Jewish voters nationally taken between May 6 and May 12, is consistent with past polling of a constituency that leans strongly Democratic. According to the RealClear Politics  aggregator , national averages show Trump’s disapproval ratings in the low 50s and his approval ratings in the low 40s.

In a favorability rating chart, Trump scored 70 percent unfavorable and 26 percent favorable, in contrast to his predecessor, Barack Obama, who scored 70 percent favorable and 27 percent unfavorable.

The pollster asked respondents about only two Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, who are leading in the national polls. Biden performed considerably better than Sanders, who is Jewish, although both men bested Trump. Biden’s favorable/unfavorable score was 66/29 and Sanders, who is running well to the left of Biden, was 51/43.

The poll showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s favorable/unfavorable score as 45/38. Netanyahu used to score high approval among American Jews, but his sustained clashes with Obama on Palestinian and Iran policy, and his closeness to Trump appear to have eroded American Jewish support.

On issues, the only area where Trump earned positive marks was on relations with Israel, with 55 percent approving of his handling of the U.S.-Israel relationship and 45 percent disapproving. Trump has forged a close relationship with Netanyahu, moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, and distancing the United States from the Palestinians. The survey showed that a substantial majority of Jewish voters, 64 percent, disapproved of Trump pulling out of the Iran deal, while 36 percent approved.

Trump was underwater on a range of other issues, including abortion (60 unfavorable/40 favorable), immigration (67 unfavorable/33 favorable) and healthcare (69 unfavorable/31 favorable). Notably, his score on dealing with anti-Semitism was 71 percent unfavorable and 29 percent favorable. Trump has downplayed the threat of white supremacists, even after an alleged white supremacist carried out the worst attack on Jews in U.S. history, in October in Pittsburgh, and has been seen as equivocating in condemning the far right.

Asked about voting booth priorities, the highest score went to protecting social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security, with 58 percent of respondents listing it as “one of the most important.” Combating anti-Semitism scored next-highest, at 54 percent. Third was affordable health care at 53 percent, and after that, gun safety laws came in at 50 percent, combating white supremacists at 49 percent, and combating terrorism at 47 percent. “Whether the candidate supports Israel” was among the lowest, with 28 percent saying it was “one of the most important” issues.

“Interviews were conducted online through a randomly selected panel,” the pollster said, referring to a process in which voters who have previously indicated a willingness to participate in surveys are randomly selected for email solicitations to join in a survey. The system is becoming more popular because of the increased difficulty in recent decades of reaching respondents over landlines. The poll had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

The Jewish Electorate Institute describes itself as “dedicated to deepening the public’s understanding of Jewish American participation in our democracy.” Its board consists of figures who have been prominent in the Jewish organizational world and in Democratic politics.

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%).