Majority of American Jews support Biden in two polls
(RNS) — Two recent polls of Jewish Americans show President Biden continues to draw on broad support, with each suggesting that more than 60% of U.S. Jews will likely vote for the Democratic incumbent over former President Donald Trump.
The poll from the Jewish Electoral Institute of 800 Jewish Americans taken in April but released Wednesday (June 26) and the poll by the American Jewish Committee of 1,001 Jews taken in March and April and released earlier this month both showed Biden with a commanding lead over Trump.
Both presidential candidates are facing off in the first debate of the presidential general election on Thursday (June 27).
Asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, 67% of U.S. Jews in the Jewish Electoral Institute poll said Biden, and 26% said Trump. In the AJC poll, 61% of U.S. Jews said they’d vote for Biden and 24% for Trump.
The polls are in keeping with decadeslong patterns in which American Jewish voters lean overwhelmingly toward the Democratic Party.
The two polls also asked U.S. Jews which presidential candidate would be better at combating antisemitism. Here, too, Biden was seen as better able to combat antisemitism. Twice as many American Jews selected him as the better choice to lead the fight against antisemitism (in the institute’s poll, the result was 58-20%; in the AJC poll, 55-20%).
Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, at podium, speaks alongside Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; from left, Ambassador Susan Rice, White House domestic policy adviser; and Homeland Security Adviser Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall during the launch of the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. (Courtesy photo)
“President Biden will again be able to draw on solid, unwavering backing of Jewish Americans this fall,” said Martin Frost, the chairman of Jewish Electorate Institute and a former congressman. “What both polls demonstrate is that despite press coverage and speculation to the contrary, American Jews largely remain committed to this administration and to the Democratic Party.”
The Jewish Electoral Institute poll was conducted by the polling firm GBAO Strategies. The AJC poll was carried out by SSRS Political and Election Polling.
A November poll by the Jewish Electorate Institute found overwhelming support for Biden’s handling of Israel’s war on Hamas, even among younger, left-leaning Jews, if by smaller margins.
Biden has shown staunch support for Israel from the outset of the Israel-Hamas war, supplying its military with a steady stream of U.S. bombs and other weapons. Facing widespread criticism, especially among younger Americans, Biden has tried to push Israel’s government to limit Palestinian casualties in Gaza and to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the region.
Trump hasn’t said much about his Israel policy should he get elected. In April, the former president urged Israel to “get it over with,” suggesting the country needed to finish the job of eliminating Hamas because it was “losing” the public relations war.
The Jewish Electorate Institute’s poll found that 81% of American Jews said they were “emotionally attached” to Israel.
Both polls reflect representative samplings of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movement Jews and those of no particular denomination or other.
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