Jewish Donors Shun Donald Trump — 95% of Contributions Go to Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump at the RJC. Image by Getty Images
It is an open secret in Jewish Republican circles: Donors are steering clear from Donald Trump, finding any excuses to channel their political contributions to congressional races and Super PACs supporting down-ballot candidates rather than writing a check for the controversial Republican standard bearer.
Now, the prediction and statistic analysis website 538 has put this trend into numbers — and the dramatic results confirm that Jewish donors are shunning the presidential candidate.
According to 538’s analysis, which was based on identifying Jewish donors by their names, place of residence and other factors, just 5% of contributions from Jewish donors went to Trump, compared to 29% for Mitt Romney in 2012.
The analysis found that of the $95 million given so far by Jewish donors to presidential candidates, 95% has gone to Hillary Clinton. In fact, at this point of the race Clinton has already gotten more campaign dollars from Jewish donors than Barack Obama received in the entire 2012 campaign.
A look at the share of Jewish donors on each side delivers further proof that Republican Jewish donors have turned their back on Trump. While Jewish contributors made up 7% of Romney’s donor base, they are only 3% of Trump’s.
Many Republican Jewish donors have been speaking openly about their difficulty in financially supporting their party’s presidential candidate this year. Most started off backing other candidates in the crowded GOP primary race and when left with Trump as the nominee, they chose to avoid giving to the presidential race altogether and focus their donations on supporting House and Senate races. Even mega donor Sheldon Adelson, the largest Jewish donor to speak out in favor of Trump, snubbed, the candidate by giving him only 5$ million after initially promising $100 million.
Trump’s finance operation is headed by Jewish Republicans, including national finance chair Steven Mnuchin and Lew Eisenberg who heads Trump Victory Fund.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A federal agency survey reportedly asks Barnard employees if they’re Jewish
-
Opinion A Palestinian leader just gave Trump an unprecedented opening to pursue peace
-
Fast Forward NIH bans grants for schools that boycott Israeli companies
-
Fast Forward An elite Jewish society at Yale fractures over its director’s embrace of Itamar Ben-Gvir
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.