By nearly a three to one margin, American Jews say they don't approve of the job that President Donald Trump is doing (72% to 24%) and think the country is moving in the wrong direction (72% and 23%), according to a new poll from the Jewish Electorate Institute.
The Mellman Group, which conducted the poll, surveyed 800 American Jewish registered voters between April 15 and 18. Respondents were overwhelmingly liberal (60%) and Democrat (70%, including 46% "strong Democrat"), compared to conservative (27%) and Republican (23%). Almost a third didn't identify with a denomination, while 10% identified as Orthodox, 19% as Conservative, and 38% as Reform.
"American Jewish voters are deeply distressed about the direction in which Donald Trump is taking the country and oppose many of his key policies," stated Mark Mellman, CEO of the Mellman Group and outgoing director of Democratic Majority for Israel. "Indeed, a majority of Jewish voters disapprove of his job performance overall and disapprove of the way Trump is handling antisemitism."
"This poll makes it clear that President Trump's executive actions — across the board — are wholly rejected by American Jewish voters," stated Martin Frost, a former member of Congress and honorary chair and chairman emeritus of the Jewish Electorate Institute.
"The president should not ignore these results, including on his handling of antisemitism, as they reflect significant political risks for both him and his party in upcoming elections," Frost said.
The polling data suggests that American Jews disapprove of Trump's executive order that allows the federal government to deport people without a court hearing by a margin of 71% to 23% and that the president earned his highest approval from U.S. Jews (31%) on his handling of domestic Jew-hatred. More than half (56%) of respondents didn't approve of his response to antisemitism.
Orthodox Jews were the likeliest to support Trump strongly, with more than 71% saying he is doing a good job, compared to fewer than 20% saying he is not.
The poll found that 65% of Orthodox Jews self-identified as Republican, compared to 27% as Democrats, and 8% as independents. Orthodox voters also reported voting for Trump (67%) at more than three times the margin (21%) that they voted for Kamala Harris, the former U.S. vice president and Democrat nominee. Among all U.S. Jews, 69% of respondents said they voted for Harris and 26% for Trump.
One-third of respondents said that they are members of a synagogue or temple.
Several days before the poll results were released, the Coalition for Jewish Values, which represents more than 2,500 traditional Orthodox rabbis in U.S. public policy, stated that Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Rabbis were wrong to issue a recent statement denouncing Trump's response to Jew-hatred on campus.
"These left-wing groups have abandoned the very community they claim to represent, but it is important to note that they comprise a tiny and dwindling fraction of those who hold the title 'rabbi' in America, much less those who possess the serious Torah scholarship normally associated with that title," CJV stated.
"The overwhelming majority of America's learned rabbinic leaders and their families deeply appreciate the efforts of the Trump administration to safeguard our communities," the group said.
Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate