One of the great things about having spent much of my life in the media is that when pollsters call, I have the perfect way to opt out of the call. It is, or used to be, standard for pollsters to eschew querying the media because their responses could be construed as those of their organization. But, it has been a while since a pollster bothered to ring me up.
I have always been suspicious of polls, mainly because the results can easily be skewed by the questions asked. I have had more than a few people with political petitions clenched in their hot little hands darken my door to garner my support or gather my opinion on something. On more than one occasion, after a little digging and a pointed conversation, I was able to figure out that no matter how innocuous the cause sounded, there was a partisan agenda behind it. This is not to say that all polls and pollsters are slanted, as some are indeed on the up-and-up. With that in mind, make what you will of the following:
From March 12 to April 16 of this year, the American Jewish Committee conducted a poll of 1001 Jews, aged 18 and up, for the 2024 Survey of American Jewish Opinion. This was done via online interviews. With a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent, the survey turned up some interesting results. Here are some highlights.
Fifty-six percent said that anti-Semitism is a serious problem in the U.S. Thirty-seven percent said that it was "somewhat" of a problem. Fifty-five percent felt that the problem had increased "a lot" since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Thirty-three percent said it had increased "somewhat."
With regard to discussing the war, the majority of respondents said that they had not had negative experiences, felt unsafe, or lost friends over the issue.
Sixty-one percent of those responding said that they planned to support Joe Biden in the upcoming election, while 23% backed Trump. The split was 49% to 25% in favor of Biden when people were asked which president would be the better choice to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Fifty-five percent said that Biden would be more effective at combating anti-Semitism in the U.S. while 20% felt that Trump would do a better job. Sixty-four percent voted for Biden in the 2020 election and 2% cast a ballot for Trump. Oddly enough, only 13% gave strong approval to the way Biden has handled the Israel-Hamas war, while 35% approved "somewhat."
Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they identified as Democrat or leaned Democrat, versus 31% who answered Republican or who said they lean Republican. Twenty-nine percent identified as liberal and 32% as moderate, while just 11% claimed to be conservative.
It is important to keep in mind that this poll is almost two months old, although the Hamas atrocities have been well-documented. One wonders if the results might have been different if the poll had been conducted after the chaos on college campuses had erupted.
In his Morning Briefing, Stephen Kruiser highlighted just how horrendous the Left has been since the Hamas attacks which includes the fiction that the hostages who were rescued by the IDF were "released." Similarly, Chris Queen talked about a plan by the White House to cut a deal to release five hostages held by Hamas, while leaving Israel out of the loop. As Chris noted, “There is no other explanation for this move than the administration's attempts to further alienate Israel — especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” His article also includes a post from Caroline Glick, who reported that the U.S. was slated to bring a resolution to the UN Security Council, designed to force Israel to capitulate to Hamas. An updated version of that resolution was passed today.
American Wire reported that at a speech in Michigan on Saturday Kamala Harris mourned the deaths of those Palestinians killed during the IDF rescue. Harris said in part:
On Oct. 7, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages. Thankfully, four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.
Does this tell you who they’re rooting for? https://t.co/MyMiWc5OHb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 9, 2024
Of course, she was in Michigan. So there's that.
So why the poll results? As I posited before, it may be that the respondents were unaware of just how vicious the protests on college campuses had become. Scales may have fallen from more than a few eyes since then. On the other hand, Jews are no different from other people. Many may value their traditional political beliefs or identities over facing the current state of affairs. After all, there is no shortage of people clinging to the Democratic Party, despite the dire headlines from all fronts of American life.
Besides, as unrealistic as it may be, no one wants to see the world burn. Maybe for some, Jew, Gentile, and atheist alike, it is just easier, if much less safe, to pretend that it will all blow over in a month or two.
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