President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 22, 2024. Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh January 6, 2025

Most American Jews do not believe President-elect Donald Trump will effectively address rising antisemitism or manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a new survey, but a larger portion have confidence in his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio.

The survey did not break out responses on antisemitism based on who respondents had voted for in November, but the results roughly parallel the exit polls: about 28% said they have confidence that Trump will effectively address rising antisemitism, which is about the portion of Jews who supported Trump in the election.

The survey was taken Dec. 15-17 as part of the Jewish People Policy Institute’s monthly online panel, and included responses from 582 American Jews from Dec. 15-17.

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Of the 420 who identified as liberal or centrist, 11% expressed strong confidence in Trump’s ability to do the right thing in combating antisemitism during his second term, while 57% said they don’t trust him. Among Reform and Conservative Jews, who made up 55% of the respondents, 20% said Trump will handle the issue effectively.

A plurality of Reform (49%) and Conservative (42%) Jews said they were “not at all” confident in Trump’s ability to address antisemitism effectively. At the same time, nearly half of modern-Orthodox (44%) and Haredi (44%) respondents expressed strong confidence that Trump will handle the issue appropriately, while 19% and 11% of each group said they are not confident he will.

Post-election polls showed that Vice President Kamala Harris received between 63% and 71% of the Jewish vote, while Trump got between 26% and 36%, a higher portion of Jews than he did in 2020 or 2016.

Both the Harris and the Trump campaigns highlighted the rise in antisemitism, including the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last year, in their outreach to undecided Jewish voters in key swing states. Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard graduate and vocal critic of universities’ handling of war protests and antisemitism on campus, made a high-profile shift to the GOP.

The survey also showed that 32% of Jews who voted for Harris believe the U.S. is not providing enough support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Jews on Trump’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations

The survey showed that American Jews are equally worried about Trump’s handling of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Palestinian conflict. A third of Conservative Jews and 20% of the Reform ones expressed confidence that Trump would manage the alliance appropriately, though 46% of Reform and 39% of Conservative Jews said they have no confidence in his ability to end the conflict.

Two-thirds of those who identify as Haredi trust Trump on Israel and Iran, compared to 47% of the Modern Orthodox.

Rubio, the Florida Republican who Trump has tapped to head his foreign-policy team, got better marks across the board. More than 40% of those who identified as liberal or leaning in that direction — including 26% who said they voted for Harris — expressed confidence that Rubio will “do the right thing” in handling Iran; 37% of the liberal-leaning and 21% of Harris voters trust him in handling the Palestinian issue.

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