President Donald Trump looks on during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Biarritz, France on August 26, 2019, at the G7 Summit. Image by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink August 28, 2019

Most Americans disapprove of President Trump’s claim that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats are unintelligent or “disloyal” — but most Republicans support those remarks, according to a poll released Wednesday.

President Trump attracted much criticism from the Jewish community when he said on August 20 that Jewish Democrats have “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty” — and doubled down the following day by claiming that such Jews were “being disloyal to Jewish people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel.”

The survey, from Morning Consult and Politico, asked 1,987 registered voters between August 23 and 25, “Do you approve or disapprove of Trump’s statements about Jewish Americans who vote for the Democratic Party either lacking knowledge or great disloyalty?” Some 59% of respondents said they disapproved – in fact, 49% of the total population said they strongly disapproved, while only 23% either somewhat or strongly approved.

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But Americans’ views on the remarks were split by party: 86% of Democrats said they disapproved, while 51% of Republicans said they approved.

The poll also identified a significant gender split, even within the GOP: Republican men showed 25 points more approval than Republican women. The poll has a margin of error of 2%.

Most prominent Jewish organizations were outraged by Trump’s remarks, noting that around three-quarters of Jews have voted Democratic for decades. Some claimed that Trump’s comments were anti-Semitic in their promotion of the “dual loyalty” canard. But some conservative Jewish groups defended Trump.

Morning Consult also found that Jewish Americans’ approval of Trump was statistically unchanged between July and August. Trump remains highly unpopular among Jews: He has a net approval rating of -43%, compared to -12% among the general population. 91% of Jewish Democrats disapprove of Trump, the worst performance among any religious group (including atheists and agnostics), Morning Consult reported.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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