A new poll finds that most Jewish adults feel isolated and unrepresented during a time when antisemitism is a growing concern in America.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 1,022 Jewish adults and found that many believe prejudice against them is a serious problem and that they do not feel represented by political leaders.
Sixty-three percent of Jewish-Americans said that prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious issue in the U.S, according to the poll. Seventy-seven percent of Jewish people believe that there is more prejudice against them in the last three years after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, the poll found.
Only 38% of all U.S. adults feel that prejudice against Jewish people is a serious problem, according to the AP.
Fourty-one percent of Jewish adults said that the Democratic Party supports the Jewish community “not very well” or “not well at all,” according to the polls. Only 15% of felt they are supported well by the Democratic Party.
However, an overwhelming majority of Jewish Americans identity as Democrats, per the AP’s poll. Sixty-six percent of Jewish adults cast votes for former Vice President Kamala Harris and 33% voted for President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election.
Thirty-six percent said that supporting Israel is very important to them, according to the polling.
“I don’t really feel comfortable in leftist circles anymore. I just want to be an Jewish American who has a connection to Israel. But I feel like I can’t do that. And it’s very frustrating. And sometimes a little scary,” Yahm Levin a Jewish Democrat from Los Angeles said.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has been a vocal critic of Israel is more supported among Jewish adults than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Trump, according to the poll. Fourty-four percent of Jewish adults view Mamdani somewhat or very favorably while 39% view him unfavorably.
Six in ten Jewish adults have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Netanyahu while one-third of them view him somewhat or very favorably according to the polls. Trump is viewed with 29% of favorability, according to the polling.
Jewish adults feel the Republican Party supports the Jewish people more than the Democratic Party by one percent point, according to the poll. Twenty-one percent say they feel Trump supports the Jewish people well.
In several interviews Jewish adults state that their Jewish heritage does not mean they want the U.S. government to provide unconditional support of Israel. Four in ten Jewish adults say the United States is too supportive of Israel while three in ten think the U.S. government is not supportive enough, according to the Associated Press.
The poll was conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs and surveyed 3,040 adults from June 11-17. Of that 1,022 of the people surveyed were Jewish. The respondents were categorized as Jewish if they said their religion was Jewish, or if they are religious unaffiliated but considered themselves Jewish because of their ethnic, cultural, or family background. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points and the margin for Jewish adults is 5.0 percentage points.
(DCNF)
