By Gabe Kahn
That’s not based on speculation, although it certainly could be. Rather, it’s based on a new poll conducted by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group on behalf of the non-partisan Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI), which found that 67 percent of Jewish voters plans to back Biden on Nov. 3, against 30 percent who support the president (the other three percent of respondents answered that they were undecided). This despite an oft-heard (and defensible) claim that Trump is a great friend to Israelits greatest ever, according to several conservative pro- Israel groups, including the Zionist Organization of America and the Massachusetts Republican Jewish Committee.
“We found that the president’s policies toward Israel did not impact or sway Jewish voters toward Trump,” said Fred Yang, founding principal of Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group. “The fact is that Jewish voters trust Joe Biden more on every issue, and believe President Trump is to blame for the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This is one of many reasons Jewish voters are overwhelmingly supporting Joe Biden in the election.”
“Every issue,” the survey found, includes Israel, as Jewish voters trust Biden over Trump on U.S.-Israel relations 46 percent to 32 percent. The 14-percent margin was the lowest of any specific policy item in the survey. Still, the fact that Trump is not leading on Israellike many Evangelicals and their single-minded devotion to a pro-life agenda, so-called “One Issue Voters” in the Jewish community seem content to overlook Trump’s foibles because of what they consider to be unprecedented support of the Jewish state in the White House should be considered a veritable coup d’état for Biden.
The online survey of 810 voters nationally who self-identify as Jewish and indicate that they are likely to vote was conducted from September 2 to 7 and has a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points, according to JEI.
Some other bullet points from the poll:
• 67 percent of Jewish voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance. This is about 15 percent higher than the American electorate as a whole.
• 70 percent of Jewish voters view Biden in favorable terms, more than 20 percent higher than the American electorate.
• Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris matches Biden in favorability among Jewish voters.
• A majority of Jewish voters believe that Trump deserves the greatest blame for the spread of coronavirus, and less than a quarter of Jewish voters trust Trump on the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
• Nearly two-thirds of Jewish voters trust Biden more on anti-Semitism, and one quarter of Jewish voters trust Trump.
• 88 percent of Jewish voters self-identify as pro-Israel, and a majority of Jewish voters are critical of at least some of the current Israeli government’s policies. Democratic and Republican Jewish voters identify as pro-Israel at the same level.
• Jewish voters prioritize domestic policy issues over Israel when asked which issues are most important. Less than one-fifth of respondents said Israel is one of the most important issues when deciding which candidate to support.
• The Israel-UAE agreement had no effect on a majority of Jewish voters’ view of Trump.
• Unlike other constituencies, most Jewish voters plan to vote before election day and feel comfortable with non-in-person voting methods.
