Religion News Service: Poll: American Jews feel threatened, blame Trump

May 22, 2019

By Yonat Shimron

(RNS) — A  survey  of 1,000 Jewish voters released Wednesday (May 22) by the Jewish Electorate Institute shows 73% of registered Jewish voters believe Jewish Americans are less secure than they were two years ago, at least in part, respondents said, because of the way President Trump has handled anti-Semitism.

The poll’s release coincides with a two-year spike in violent attacks against U.S. Jews, which doubled in 2018, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s yearly audit of anti-Semitic incidents. The data appeared the same week as a rash of  fires  that were intentionally set at Jewish centers in Massachusetts and Chicago.

The poll, conducted by Greenberg Research, shows 71% disapprove of Trump’s response to anti-Semitism. Nearly 60% believe he bears at least some responsibility for last year’s shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and last month’s shooting at a synagogue in Poway, near San Diego.

“We have a Jewish community, not under siege, but facing great insecurity, blaming President Trump for a lot of it, becoming very engaged and politicized by it, and prioritizing a range of domestic issues that align them to vote Democratic in 2020,” said Stan Greenberg, a longtime pollster for Democrats.

The poll comes as Republicans are moving to capitalize on growing anti-Semitic incidents with an aggressive campaign to siphon off the Democratic Party’s lock on the Jewish vote.

In Las Vegas earlier this month, prominent Republican Party donors gathered at GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson’s Venetian resort for a briefing on a planned $10 million-plus effort to boost Jewish support for Trump, Politico  reported.

The latest poll suggests that Jewish voters may be difficult to sway.

Seventy-one percent disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance, while 70% view him unfavorably and 67% would vote for a generic Democrat over Trump, the poll finds. The one segment of the American Jewish population that supports Trump is Orthodox Jews, who represent about  10 percent  of the U.S. Jewish population.

One reason for the dissatisfaction with Trump may be his appeals to white nationalists during his campaign and in response to the Charlottesville, Va., Unite the Right rally in 2017. After the New Zealand mosque massacre in March, the president dismissed white nationalists as a “small group of people” who present no  “rising threat.”

Asked what was most concerning to them from a list of options, 38% of American Jewish voters said it was Trump’s encouraging of ultraright extremists to commit violent acts. By contrast, 27% identified Democrats’ tolerating of anti-Semitism in their ranks.

The poll also found that Israel ranked at the bottom of a list of 16 policy priorities for Jewish voters. Health care, gun safety laws and combating the influence of white supremacists ranked much higher among their most urgent policy priorities — even as 90% of Jews ranked themselves as “pro-Israel.”

The online survey took place May 6-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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%).