Jewish Voters Back Democrats In Midterms — Oppose Trump

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By JTA October 17, 2018

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A poll shows Jewish voters strongly favoring Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, and disapproving of President Donald Trump substantially more than the general population.

The poll published Wednesday by the Jewish Electoral Institute, a new group founded by Jewish Democrats, shows respondents favoring Democrats over Republicans 74-26. It also shows low approval ratings for President Donald Trump: Just 25 percent approve of the job he is doing, while 75 percent disapprove. General population surveys show Trump’s approval ratings at 42 percent.

Among other findings, it also shows overwhelming support for Israel among Jewish Americans, 92 percent, although this breaks down among those who are critical of the current Israeli government’s policies (59 percent) and those who are supportive (32 percent.)

Respondents are evenly divided on Trump’s Israel policies, with 51 percent approving and 49 percent not approving — within the margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Jewish voters tend to rank domestic issues as more important than Israel when considering whom they would elect in November. Asked to rate issues, 83 percent said health care was at least “very important,” 90 percent ranked the Supreme Court the same, and 84 percent said the same about social safety net protections like Medicare and Social Security. Just 52 percent ranked Israel as “very important.”.

The Jewish Electoral Institute board includes figures like Barbara Goldberg Goldman, Stuart Kurlander, Michael Gelman and Ralph Grunewald who have been involved in Democratic politics, and also in Jewish and pro-Israel groups like the American Jewish Committee and The Israel Project.

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