On February 5, 2019, the Senate voted on the “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019,” which included provisions strengthening security assistance to Israel, additional funding, and supporting laws aimed at countering BDS. The bill passed the Senate 77–23.
What I found disturbing at that time was the party splits. Specifically, Republicans voted for the bill by a 52-1 margin, while Democrats voted for the bill by a 25-22 margin. So, 47% of those in the Democratic Caucus voted against supporting Israel.
By 2024, Nishma Research’s Presidential preference polling gave the Republican candidate a very strong lead of 81%-to-19% advantage (Trump over Harris) across the U.S. Orthodox community. This was not surprising and when we asked voters to explain their preferences we heard back such comments as, “I care about a lot of things and Israel is right at the top. Harris hasn’t distanced herself from the progressive wing. That group really scares me. I just can’t vote for her because I can see her caving in to the progressives, and they hate Israel.”
In recent years, antisemitism and anti-Zionism have increased dramatically, as has the debate about which side is more antisemitic: the Left (Liberal Progressive Democrats) or the right (Ultra-Nationalist Republicans).
Orthodox Jews are very much aware of and strongly oppose the antisemitism on the far “progressive” left. Additionally, many see views on the white nationalist far right as promoting classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and racism. My sense has been that Orthodox Jews as a whole have seen the antisemitism on the left (including the campus and activist incitements) as the bigger threat, while the antisemitism on the right is often viewed as the kind that “has always been here and will continue to be here.”
Now we have a newly released poll by the conservative Manhattan Institute, which finds that 17% of Republican voters are “anti-Jewish” (defined as believing that the Holocaust was exaggerated and also that Israel is a “settler-colonial state”) and 12% of Republican voters describe themselves as having “hostility to, or prejudice against, Jewish people.” The study further notes that there are “slightly higher levels of anti-Jewish sentiment among Democrats: 20%, compared to 17% among Republicans.” Well, that to me is not much comfort.
In my view, those two figures are a lot more similar than they are different. Does this surprise people? Does it worry people?
To get at Orthodox Community reactions to these levels of anti-Jewish sentiment, Nishma Research conducted an overnight Pulse Mini-Survey (open for 24 hours from motzei Shabbat, Dec. 6, to Dec. 7; we received 153 responses). Here are some of the interesting reactions from the Orthodox community.
We asked: Several recent surveys have found levels of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment to be about the same among Democratic voters as compared to Republican voters. What is your reaction to this?
It turns out that few people are surprised: 72% say this finding does not surprise them; 14% are surprised; and 14% don’t believe this to be true. But far more Republicans (29%) disbelieve this than do Democrats (5%). This finding suggests that we need to accept the reality that antisemitism is not one-sided.
A sample of the responses:
“There are many outspoken Dems in Congress that are openly antisemitic or pro-Hamas. New York City and Chicago, blue cities have had wave after wave of antisemitic acts. I don’t see the same in Republican congressional members or cities / states.”
“Since October 7th there has been an almost total focus by the Jewish community on left wing antisemitism while ignoring the obvious virulent and dangerous antisemitism from the right. It has been clear to me that it’s a dangerous problem on both sides.”
“I don’t believe that The Democratic Party actually exists anymore. It has been taken over by an antisemitic socialist movement with funding from who actually knows.”
“Don’t underestimate the effects of hate from the right; people are spouting vile anti-Jewish and anti-Israel views and social media like podcasts and Twitter is creating antisemitism on steroids.”
We then asked: Which group of anti-Israel / antisemites do you believe is more dangerous?
A majority (57%) believes they are equally dangerous, while 29% believe those on the Democratic side are more dangerous and 14% believe those on the Republican side are more dangerous. A sample of the responses:
“Extreme democrats reject Israel’s legitimacy and will forever frame it as an aggressor; extreme republicans feel that Israel exerts too much influence on US politics. The former is ultimately more problematic.”
“Antisemitic beliefs are now central to the Democratic platform, whereas Antisemitism amongst Republicans is generally confined to the fringes of the party.”
“The rise of Tucker Carlson, Nicki Fuentes, and Candance Owens are convincing far-right Republicans that support for Israel should be reconsidered.”
“I work in academia and I see a huge amount of antisemitism coming from progressives. I have not had any first-hand experience with antisemitism from conservatives. Maybe a comment online here or a comment online there, but not to the degree that I see in my daily life in higher education, where the Jew-hatred is a constant flow. So while I am not surprised that antisemitism exists on the right, I am surprised that the report shows the level on the right to be so high while the level on the left is reported as being so low.”
“It’s not the left wing or the right wing; both wings belong to the same screwed-up bird.”
My takeaway from this information and these reactions is that the problem exists from both ends of the political spectrum, we need to see and understand that, and deal with it together.
Comments (0)