A majority of American Jews support President Biden’s reelection campaign and say they trust him more than former President Trump to combat the “serious” problem of growing anti-Semitism, according to a survey released Monday.
American Jewish Committee (AJC) 2024 American Jewish Poll The survey, conducted between March 12 and April 6, shows that Jews are generally not unhappy with the president, despite comments suggesting Biden’s policies toward Israel and Gaza might hurt him among Jewish voters.
In a hypothetical showdown held today, 61% said they supported Biden, 23% said they supported Trump, and 10% said they supported “someone else.”
This result is similar to the percentage of respondents who said they voted for Biden in 2020 (64%) and the percentage of respondents who said they voted for Trump in 2020 (21%), suggesting there has been no significant change in their positions.
The same survey found that Jews are increasingly concerned about rising anti-Semitism in the United States, especially since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, but they trust Biden more than Trump to address it.
Nearly all Jews (93%) say anti-Semitism in the United States is a “serious problem” (56%) or “somewhat of a problem” (37%), while 7% say it is not a problem.
The poll found that a majority of Jews (87%) believe that anti-Semitism in the United States has “greatly increased” (55%) or “slightly increased” (33%) “since the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7.” Only 1% say anti-Semitism has decreased, and 12% say it has remained the same.
At the same time, American Jewish adults feel increasingly connected to Israel, with 85% saying they think it’s important for the United States to support Israel since October 7, and 57% saying they feel more connected to Israel and their Jewish identity since the attacks.
“Despite rising anti-Semitism threatening the safety of Jews, American Jews are proud of who they are and have a stronger connection to Israel,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch, who is retiring from Congress in 2022 to lead a nonpartisan international Jewish advocacy group.
Amid growing concern among American Jews, 55% said Biden is better at fighting anti-Semitism in the US, compared with 20% who said Trump is better, 15% said they were neutral and 9% said they didn’t know.
When asked which major party presidential candidate would be better for U.S.-Israel relations, 49% said Biden, 25% said Trump, 13% said neither, and 13% said they didn’t know.
The poll also found Biden has a high approval rating (56%) for the way he’s doing overall as president, with 24% saying they “strongly” approve and 32% saying they “somewhat” approve. Forty percent disapprove, including 16% saying they “somewhat” approve and 24% saying they “strongly” approve.
When asked about Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, his approval rating dropped to 48 percent, with 13 percent saying they “strongly” approved and 35 percent saying they “somewhat” approved. 43 percent disapproved, with 20 percent saying they “somewhat” approved and 23 percent saying they “strongly” approved.
The AJC poll included 1,001 Jewish adults and has a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
