WASHINGTON, DC – The overwhelming majority of American Jews voted for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, while raising serious concerns about the state of American democracy and the role that Donald Trump and his GOP allies have played in the rise of antisemitism, according to a new Election Night poll.
The Election Night poll, conducted by GBAO and commissioned by the pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group J Street, found that Jewish voters supported Democrats over Republicans 74-25, a 49-point margin. 55 percent of Jewish voters cited “the state of democracy” as their top voting issue, while 40 percent cited abortion. A striking 76 percent said that they believe Donald Trump and his allies in the Republican Party are responsible for a rise in antisemitism and white supremacy – while 74 percent believe that Trump and the MAGA movement are “a threat to Jews in America.”
“The future of democracy was clearly on the ballot in 2022 – and Jewish Americans voted accordingly,” said J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami. “The vast majority of our community is deeply alarmed by the rise in antisemitism, white supremacy and far-right extremism driven by Donald Trump and his allies in the GOP. As in 2020, they voted for Democratic candidates in huge numbers, repudiating those who think Jewish Americans can somehow be won over by a Republican Party that seems dead set on targeting democratic values and fundamental rights.”
Reflecting this broad concern about anti-democratic extremists, 72 percent of Jewish-American voters said they disapproved of the pro-Israel group AIPAC’s decision to endorse and raise money for Members of Congress who support Israel but voted against certifying the 2020 Presidential election.
Here are the topline survey results, crosstabs and analysis memo from GBAO.
While Israel was not a top priority for all but a very small minority of voters, the poll also found that Jewish voters’ preferences on foreign policy issues strongly favor diplomacy to help resolve difficult issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and nuclear tensions with Iran. 71 percent support re-entering the nuclear agreement with Iran that President Trump unilaterally withdrew from, while 73 percent believe that the US should exert pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to achieve the compromises necessary to achieve peace.
68 percent believe that the US government should continue to provide $3.8 billion in annual security assistance to Israel, but should restrict it so that no US aid or military equipment can be used to expand Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. A large majority of Jewish voters also believe that Israel should suspend some or all settlement construction in the West Bank (76%). Furthermore, incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deeply unpopular with Jewish Americans, with his favorability at -27.
“The election reinforces long-standing dynamics among Jewish voters and shows they remain firmly entrenched in the Democratic camp,” said pollster Jim Gerstein. “Dynamics are also shifting in ways that have implications for how Jewish organizations navigate cultural, foreign policy, and partisan debates if they want to give voice to an American Jewish community that feels threatened by antisemitic forces that closely align with one of the two major political parties in the country.”
This survey of Jews who voted in the 2022 election provides a comprehensive look with a large sample to assess the political beliefs and values of Jewish voters. 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.”
GBAO designed the questionnaire for this national survey of American Jews who voted in the 2022 general election. The survey was conducted November 1-8, 2022 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.