The Jewish Vote: Can Both Sides Join a Patriotic Chorus?

Donald Trump is mystified by the polls estimating that two-thirds of Jewish voters prefer Kamala Harris. So are America’s Jew-haters, who caricature Jews as single-issue voters – despite polls showing that even as Israel fights a multi-front war, American Jews place Israel fourth on the list of issues determining their vote. This contentious campaign, as both candidates trigger primal Jewish fears and embody ancestral Jewish hopes, most American Jews seem poised to keep voting as American Jews have voted since Franklin Roosevelt.

The enduring truth remains. Although most American Jews support Israel, in the voting booth, their civic, liberal selves predominate. And because every modern major party nominee has been pro-Israel enough, with candidates consistently insisting their approach to Israel is best for Israel, most American Jews reason backward. They choose their candidate for domestic reasons – then praise their pick for offering just what Israel needs.

Trump’s confusion is understandable. Last spring, he polled stronger among Jews. Had pro-Palestinian hooligans exported their disruptive antics from ivy-covered campuses to the Chicago Democratic Convention, and had Joe Biden’s lackluster campaign continued, Trump might have attracted more Jewish votes. This shift is why politics remains alchemy, not science. 

The ballot box remains the only poll that counts.

Trump’s optimism reflected that quadrennial Republican prediction – which never quite works out  –  that this election, more Jews would vote Republican. Trump only sees the anti-Israel forces embedded in the Democratic Party – while overlooking his alliances with rabid Jew-haters. He claims Hamas’ October 7 massacre would not have occurred had he still been President. He emphasizes his administration’s extraordinary support for Israel, from recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to negotiating the game-changing Abraham Accords. 

But Trump underestimates how much he unnerves many American Jews, and how much liberalism and voting Democratic remain foundational to most American Jews’ identities. For two-thirds of American Jews, liberalism is as central to their Judaism as chicken soup, bar mitzvahs, and world-weary jokes. Most consider liberalism an insurance policy that America will never discriminate against them or others, or replicate the totalitarianism of the czars, the Nazis, the Soviets, and the Arab dictators from whom their ancestors fled. 

They also trust liberalism to create an America and a world fulfilling their cherished American and Biblical values of “Tikkun Olam,” repairing the world, and social justice. Finally, securing abortion rights now animates many American Jews. Most are more passionately pro-choice than pro-Israel when choosing candidates – which doesn’t make them anti-Israel.

That dedication to liberalism explains why most American Jews consider Trump more monster than messiah. He embodies everything they fear: erratic, demagogic, authoritarian, targeting  “the enemy within” – which historically often meant The Jew. Moreover, Trump appeals to the American extremists Jews most fear, especially white supremacists. Their harshness explains why most Jews discount how central supporting Israel has become to Republicans and Evangelicals. 

Meanwhile, while being pro-Israel enough, Kamala Harris is culturally in synch with most American Jews. The multicultural, upper-middle-class vibe fueling her campaign appeals to many Jews, most of whom live in blue-state America’s urban and suburban strongholds. The virtual “United for America” rally with Oprah Winfrey and Kamala Harris – which, naturally, zoomed in on one man, shedding tears ever-so-appropriately – resonated with more American Jews than Trump’s hyper-masculine, locker room-revival rallies.

Closing the sale, Kamala is “Momala,” brisket-washing her identity with enough Jewish shticks in her intermarriage to Douglas Emhoff. By now, American Jews should have tired of all this vir-Jew signaling. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden all have Jewish in-laws. Harris has a Jewish husband and stepchildren. Candidates should be judged by their policy positions and characters, not their Jewish relatives.

Harris’ Jewish critics sense a vice-presidential frostiness toward Israel that also stirs primal Jewish fears. They worry that she’s the first whatabout Zionist as major party nominee, forever diluting her commitment to Israel’s “right to defend itself” with criticism of how Israel is forced to defend itself.  Her constant scolding might have worried more Jews closer to the October 7 rampage – or if Israel wasn’t on such a winning streak, neutralizing Hezbollah’s leaders and beeper owners, fending off Iran’s missiles, and killing Yahya Sinwar, after defeating all 24 Hamas battalions in Gaza.

Many of Trump’s Jewish supporters recoil from his boorishness, aggressiveness, mendacity, and disrespect for democracy. But they worry about the Democrats’ naïve faith in negotiating with Iran’s Mullahs and the Democratic Party’s tolerance for anti-Zionists. Seeing how the Academic Intifada soured Progressives on Israel, annoyed that the Biden-Harris administration often tried restraining Israel’s war effort, especially in Rafah this winter, they’re gambling on a second Trump presidency. Those who acknowledge that Trump might break America, fear Harris will break the world, which would hurt America and Israel.  Atavistically, rather than considering Trump a monster, many hope he’s the Golem – the mythical medieval brute who pulverized anti-Semites.

Tragically, as throughout America, few Jews on either side acknowledge their candidate’s flaws. Doing so could trigger constructive dialogue across the great partisan chasm. Shame on us all that we have forgotten how to disagree respectfully, constructively. Instead, dueling partisans essentially frame the clash as “The Monster versus Momala” or “The Sugar Daddy versus the Scold.” The division at least refutes talk of “the” Jews and “the Israel vote” as monolithic.

Still, the ongoing, bipartisan appeal for the Jewish vote – along with broad-based bipartisan support for Israel –  is reassuring. Although many Jews considered last year the worst year for American Jews in their lifetimes, with anti-Semitism spiking on campus and beyond, both candidates, both parties, and the police from coast to coast keep denouncing such Jew-hatred. After centuries of persecution, negation, and disrespect, East and West, Jews in America have rights.  Minorities count here, as candidates woo Jews, blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities.

The Jewish experience in the 2024 election, therefore, keeps countering both parties’ gloom-and-doomers. Perhaps democracy isn’t as endangered as Democrats fear. Perhaps America isn’t as broken as MAGA Republicans charge.

The Jewish experience in the 2024 election, therefore, keeps countering both parties’ gloom-and-doomers. Perhaps democracy isn’t as endangered as Democrats fear. Perhaps America isn’t as broken as MAGA Republicans charge. 

That’s why, despite all the anger, most Jews will continue echoing their parents and grandparents, crying out: “God Bless America,” appreciating America’s rights, freedoms, and prosperity. Maybe all Republicans and Democrats, as they walk away peacefully after casting their ballots freely, should consider joining that patriotic chorus too.

Professor Gil Troy, a Senior Fellow in Zionist Thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, is the author of nine books on the American presidency, and the author of “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream,” recently published by Wicked Son.