Did Israel determine the US presidential election?
Part 4: Jews and the Democratic Party
By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS
Historically, on average, “American Jews tend to favor Democratic candidates, with 71% of Jewish voters choosing Democratic candidates on average and 26% choosing Republicans since 1968.” The relationship between American Jews and their backing of the Democratic Party is a complex interaction that influences both parties significantly. When members of the Jewish community cast their votes, they frequently choose options that may not align with their economic self-interest, reflecting their political and moral convictions, leading to questions about the influence of Israel on their political perspectives. In contemporary discussions, individuals of Jewish heritage in the United States articulate their understanding of Judaism not merely as a collection of ethical guidelines but also as a means of expressing their ethnic identity. Self-interest, beliefs, and awareness of their minority status influence the voting behavior of the Jewish community in contemporary society.
The level of Jewish participation in politics, the interaction between their political beliefs and party affiliations, the impact of particular issues on their voting patterns, and the influence of Israel on their voting choices are all significant factors. In contrast to voters from various other demographics, Jewish voters hold distinct perspectives on several moral and cultural matters. The voting patterns of Jewish Americans significantly influence potential shifts in the electoral landscape, particularly in the aftermath of the 2016 election and the onset of Donald Trump’s administration. Despite the perception that American Jews may lack loyalty to the Democratic Party, their voting patterns reveal a different story. They consistently cast their ballots for the Democratic Party in significant numbers, as evidenced by their partisan identification and voting behaviors in national elections.
The inconsistency can be attributed in part to the Republican Party’s endorsement of moral control, closely tied to its backing of Christian conservatism. Various perspectives exist regarding the influence of American Jews’ political views on their voting behavior, yet consensus suggests a stronger alignment with the Democratic Party rather than more progressive ideologies. While acknowledging that categorizing Jews into groups may not always reflect their diverse political and ideological perspectives, they maintain that the evidence fails to substantiate significant assertions regarding their influence on election results. American Jews embody two distinct forms of liberalism: firstly, they align with traditional liberalism that traces back to the 18th century, and secondly, they reflect a post-World War II liberalism characterized by support for a welfare state despite holding differing views on specific public policies. The commitment to conventional liberal principles plays a crucial role in Jewish partisanship, complicating the task of distinguishing between partisanship and ideology as independent elements within a multivariate framework.
The Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey of Jewish Americans in 2020 indicated that Jews represent one of the most reliably liberal and Democratic demographics within the U.S. population. Notably, 75% of Jewish adults either identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while half characterize their political views as liberal. A critical stance towards former Republican President Donald Trump closely correlates with the prevailing tendency to align with the Democratic Party and embrace liberal values. Five to 12 months before the 2020 presidential election, a survey found that nearly 75% of Jewish adults disapproved of Trump’s job performance, while only 27% gave it a positive rating. [1]
Orthodox Jews, in contrast, represent a distinct subgroup with a political profile that is nearly the opposite of the broader Jewish community. A significant 60% of Orthodox Jews characterize their political views as conservative, while 75% align with the Republican Party or exhibit a tendency toward the GOP. Additionally, 81% expressed approval of Trump’s performance during the survey period. A significant portion of the Jewish respondents, with over fifty percent of Democrats included, expressed the view that Trump was supportive of the state of Israel. Only approximately one-third (31%) of respondents characterized him as friendly toward Jews in the United States, while 37% viewed him as unfriendly toward U.S. Jews; the rest considered him neutral. [2]
A significant majority of Jews in the U.S. identify as Democratic and liberal, with half of them labeling their political views as liberal, which is three times the percentage that considers themselves politically conservative (16%). Orthodox Jews exhibit a likelihood of supporting the GOP that is comparable to that of white evangelical Protestants, with both groups identifying their political views as conservative. In late 2019 and early 2020, going into the 2020 presidential campaign, the survey indicated that a significant portion of U.S. Jews expressed dissatisfaction with the overall direction of the country, with 76% asserting it was heading in the wrong direction. Jewish Republicans expressed a general sense of satisfaction regarding the nation’s trajectory, with 23% of Jewish adults identifying with or leaning toward the GOP believing the country was moving in the right direction. [3]
A majority of Orthodox Jews expressed a favorable view of the nation’s policy toward Israel during Trump’s administration. Nonetheless, merely around 25% of Jewish adults assessed Trump’s approach to immigration as excellent (14%) or good (10%), whereas a significant majority deemed it only fair (7%) or poor (67%). A mere 19% of Jews rated Trump’s environmental management as excellent or good. Individuals identifying as Jewish by religion were more inclined than those identifying as Jewish without religious affiliation to express favorable opinions regarding Trump’s Israel policy (45% compared to 24%). Nearly 90% of Orthodox Jews rated Trump’s approach to U.S. policy regarding Israel as either good (16%) or excellent (69%). Approximately two-thirds of the Orthodox community expressed favorable opinions regarding Trump’s approach to immigration and environmental issues. [4]
Many Jews generally believed that Trump maintained a favorable stance towards Israel, but they viewed his attitude towards American Jews with more skepticism. A significant portion of the Jewish population in the United States, specifically 63%, expressed the view that Trump maintained a friendly stance toward Israel. This figure is marginally above the 57% who perceived the Republican Party overall as supportive of the Jewish state. Among Jewish Democrats, a notable majority, specifically 55%, characterized Trump as friendly toward Israel, while 53% felt the same about the GOP. These percentages, however, were significantly lower compared to the views held by Jewish Republicans, where 85% and 73% expressed similar sentiments, respectively.[5]
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-political-views/
[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-political-views/
[3] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-political-views/
[4] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-political-views/
[5] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-political-views/
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.
