Did Israel determine the US presidential election?
Part 5: Israeli View of the Election
By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS
Israelis had a far more decisive viewpoint about the importance of Israel in the presidential elections and which candidate was the better one. A majority preferred Trump to Harris; the feeling was overwhelming among Israeli Jews, while Israeli Arabs were much more split. According to a national survey by Langer Research Associates and Public Opinion Research Israel, a significant portion of Israelis favor former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris when it comes to Israel’s security. Support for Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential race reflects this preference, albeit with notable political divisions. According to a September survey, 58% of Israeli respondents believe Trump would enhance Israel’s security, while 20% favor Harris. In a hypothetical scenario where Israelis could cast their votes in the U.S. election, a significant 54% indicated a preference for Trump, while 24% would opt for Harris, leaving the remainder undecided. [1]
These attitudes largely reflect the divisions within Israeli politics. In a hypothetical Israeli election scenario, a significant 88% of those supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition believe that Trump would be more beneficial for Israel’s security, and 84% express a preference for him in the U.S. presidential race. Supporters of Israeli opposition parties show a nearly even split, with 39% favoring Harris and 37% leaning toward Trump in their presidential preferences. Notably, even those aligned with the opposition party favored Trump over Harris regarding Israel’s security, though the margin was relatively narrow at 41%-32%. [2]
Political and ethnic differences shape the perspectives on U.S. presidential candidates, as Jewish voters tend to support Trump for the sake of Israel’s security, whereas Arab voters show a divided stance. A significant 64% of Jewish respondents favored Trump over Harris regarding Israel’s security. In contrast, the Arab demographic, representing approximately 17% of Israel’s adult citizens, exhibited a nearly even split, with 27% supporting one candidate and 24% the other; 36% perceived no distinction between the two options. In terms of voting preferences, the Jewish demographic supported Trump with a margin of 58% to 23%, whereas the Arab community showed a closer division at 28% to 26%. The voting patterns among Jewish communities showed a range from 53% to 88%. Secular Jews leaned toward Trump by a margin of 11 points, while traditional Jews supported him by 65% to 17%. Ultra-Orthodox Jews exhibited a significant preference at 69% to 3%, and Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly favored him with 85% to 4%.
As it came closer to Election Day, Israeli support for Trump increased. At the end of October, Channel 12 News indicated that 66% of Israelis favor Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. The survey carried out just a week prior to the US election revealed that a mere 17% of Israelis opted for Harris, with an additional 17% expressing no preference at all. A staggering 93% of coalition party voters opted for Trump, while a mere 1% cast their support for Harris. The findings contrast sharply with a September 9 poll by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which showed 68% of U.S. Jews supporting Harris and only 25% opting for Trump. American Jews prioritize concerns such as democracy, abortion, the economy, climate change, national security, antisemitism, immigration, and healthcare over Israel.[3]
[1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-israelis-massively-favor-trump-over-harris-in-us-election/
[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-israelis-massively-favor-trump-over-harris-in-us-election/
[3] https://www.jns.org/israelis-prefer-trump-66-over-harris-poll-finds/
Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS, is a historian, librarian, journalist, and artist. She is pursuing an MA in Jewish Education at the Melton Centre of Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of the recently released “On This Day in History…: Significant Events in the American Year,” and “A Constant Battle: McGill University’s Complicated History of Antisemitism and Now anti-Zionism.” She has a BA in History and Art History and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University. She has done graduate work in Jewish history at Concordia University as part of the MA in Judaic Studies, where she focused on Medieval and Modern Judaism. Her research area is North American Jewish history, and her thesis was entitled “Unconditional Loyalty to the Cause: Southern Whiteness, Jewish Women, and Antisemitism, 1860–1913.” Ms. Goodman has been researching and writing about antisemitism in North American Jewish History, and she has reported on the current antisemitic climate and anti-Zionism on campus for over fifteen years.
She is also the author of among others, “Silver Boom! The Rise and Decline of Leadville, Colorado as the United States Silver Capital, 1860–1896” (2008), “On This Day in the History… Of American Independence Significant Events in the Revolutionary Era, 1754–1812” (2020), and “We Used to be Friends? The Long Complicated History of Jews, Blacks, and Antisemitism” (2020). She contributed the overviews and chronologies to the “History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2008,” edited by Gil Troy, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and Fred L. Israel (2012). She is the former Features Editor at the History News Network and reporter at Examiner.com, where she covered politics, universities, religion, and news. She currently blogs at Medium, where she was a top writer in history, and regularly writes an “On This Day in History (#OTD in #History)” Feature. Her scholarly articles can be found on Academia.edu.
