An overwhelming majority of American Jews voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party in the 2024 election, rejecting former President Donald Trump and the racist, antisemitic, conspiracy-driven MAGA movement the Republican Party has come to represent, according to a new election poll.
The largest election poll of Jewish Americans, conducted by GBAO Strategies and commissioned by the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy group J Street, found that Jewish voters favored Harris over Trump (71-26) by a 45-point margin nationally. In Pennsylvania, despite Republicans and their allies investing tens of millions to try to sway Jewish voters, support for Harris over Trump (75-23) rose to a 52-point margin.
“Mainstream Jewish voters remain a steadfast pillar of Democratic support, rejecting the MAGA agenda despite cynical efforts to divide our community with fear-mongering over Israel and antisemitism,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “Even in high-stakes swing state Pennsylvania, support for Harris reached 75 percent, proving predictions of a shift entirely wrong. We know who will fight for our community, our safety, our values and our freedoms – and it’s not MAGA extremists.”
Nationwide Jewish voters overwhelmingly supported Democratic congressional candidates (72-26) over Republican congressional candidates.
Here are the topline survey results, national crosstabs, Pennsylvania crosstabs and analysis memo from GBAO.
“Despite the perennial claims that ‘this is the year’ that Jewish voters flee Democrats, Harris’ 71-26 percent margin is remarkably consistent with previous Democratic performance. Jewish voters repeatedly demonstrated that they are a base Democratic constituency,” said GBAO Strategies Founding Partner Jim Gerstein. “Harris’ dominant performance among Jewish voters is particularly notable in the context of the tens of millions of dollars that Republicans spent seeking to define Harris as weak on Israel and antisemitism, which clearly failed.”
53 percent of national Jewish voters cited “the future of democracy” as their top voting issue, while 38 percent cited abortion. 14 percent listed Israel as one of their top two voting issues in the first J Street poll since Hamas’ October 7 attack, up from 4 percent in 2022.
When asked about actions they consider antisemitic, 94 percent identified praise for the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as antisemitic, while 87 percent viewed opposition to Israel’s right to exist as antisemitic. By contrast, only 29 percent saw criticism of Israel’s handling of the Gaza conflict as antisemitic, and 41 percent believe that calling Israel’s actions in the conflict with Hamas “war crimes” is antisemitic.
A large majority of Jewish voters support diplomatic agreements that include difficult concessions. Support for a two-state peace agreement – including a demilitarized Palestinian state along 1967 borders and limited refugee return – remains steady at 68 percent, virtually unchanged since November 2022. A regional security agreement involving Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and featuring joint security efforts, garners even stronger support at 74 percent.
Jewish voters strongly support key American policy initiatives in Israel and Gaza that they want the next President to pursue. Top priorities include a major speech proposing a Palestinian state and diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab states (72 percent) and increasing humanitarian aid to Palestinians (71 percent). There is also significant support (66 percent) for sanctioning Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for aiding violent settler attacks against Palestinians.
Despite right-wing appeals framed around Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval has cratered among Jewish Americans, now deep underwater at a -31 (32 favorable/63 unfavorable). Jewish voters do not find it incompatible to be both pro-Israel and critical of Israeli government policy. Despite the trauma of October 7 and concerns over protests on college campuses, 90 percent of American Jews believe that someone can criticize Israeli government policies and still be pro-Israel.
Jewish voters continue to support diplomacy and negotiation over military action. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) think diplomacy is the most effective way to address American and Israeli concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, compared to 35 percent who think military action is the most effective way. This finding is consistent with the large portion (64 percent) of Jews who think the United States should restart negotiations with Iran to reach an agreement that prevents the country from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions.
Methodology
GBAO designed the questionnaire for this national survey of American Jews who voted in the 2024 general election. The national survey was conducted October 30 – November 5, 2024, and included interviews with 800 self-identified Jewish voters who cast their ballots on Election Day or prior to Election Day. The survey is subject to a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The Pennsylvania poll sampled 500 self-identified Jewish voters and was conducted November 4-5, 2024. The Pennsylvania survey is subject to a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
This survey of American Jews who voted in the 2024 election provides a comprehensive look with a large sample to assess Jewish voters’ political beliefs and values. Unlike exit polls that do not ask the range of critical Jewish demographic questions, such as denomination and synagogue membership, that are necessary to ensure a representative sample, this survey is a detailed and thorough assessment that reflects the demographic composition of the Jewish population as extensively examined by the Pew Research Center.
The survey sample was drawn from a national voter file consisting of all registered voters in the United States. Respondents with a likelihood of being Jewish based on their name or geography were contacted by text, and then took the survey on their phone or computer. At the beginning of the survey, respondents were asked whether they consider themselves Jewish, using the same question wording as the 2013 Pew Research Center’s study, “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.”