The Republican Jewish Federation on Thursday released a report examining which side Jewish voters supported for President-elect Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election, finding that he benefited the most from “the most.” “People who live a Jewish life and live in the largest Jewish communities.”
The analysis by WPA Intelligence, a conservative political consulting and analysis firm, looked at available exit polls, city and county data, and precinct data. The report primarily identifies “secular, secular Jewish people” who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, and “people actively involved in Judaism” who expressed support for Trump. It was concluded that the political gap between the two countries is widening.
“When you look at Jewish neighborhoods and towns, the trend is clear and unmistakable,” WPAI said. “Because Judaism is in some sense a communal religion, and observant Judaism requires community-based infrastructure, Jews living in Jewish neighborhoods tend to be more religious and engaged. We're seeing a big shift toward Trump in these areas.”
“This trend is evidenced by Trump's near-unanimous support among Chassidic and Yeshivish Jews, who have rapidly consolidated the Modern Orthodox vote. “More liberal Jewish areas, such as Upper Manhattan, will also gradually benefit,” the company added. “It is likewise ethnically and geographically diverse, existing from coast to coast, with predominantly Persian and former Soviet Jewish communities.”
The RJC/WPAI report is the latest data point in the dispute between Republican and Democratic Jewish groups over whether and where Trump may have won most Jewish voters. be.
The question could primarily revolve around who counts as a Jew, and pollsters could come to very different conclusions depending on how they screen Jewish voters.
According to a study commissioned by J Street, President Trump won just 26% of the Jewish vote nationally and 23% of the Jewish vote in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, making Jewish voters a weak candidate for Democrats. It will be one of the most reliable demographic statistics. In this election, nearly every socio-economic subgroup in the United States tilted toward Trump.
However, 24% of J Street respondents identified as “not religiously Jewish,” giving Harris a big boost among voters.
A poll by the Orthodox coalition Teach Coalition, which used a different method to identify Jewish voters, found a radically different result in Pennsylvania, with Harris winning the state by 48 percent. It remained at 41%.
The RJC/WPAI analysis concluded that some of the most dramatic swings in the Jewish vote for Trump occurred in New York. They also found redshifts occurring in areas with large Jewish populations in New Jersey, Michigan, and California.
“Jews still often live in blue areas, but their neighborhoods and communities are becoming an increasingly large part of the red islands in the blue sea,” MPAI said. “In this election, we have seen how Jewish values vote and increasingly vote red.”
