Josh Kraushaar: AJC Poll – American Jews hold negative views over Democratic Party’s handling of antisemitism

The poll finds the Jewish community is deeply concerned about heightened antisemitism, though only about one-quarter said they personally faced an antisemitic incident.

A sizable majority of American Jews disapprove of how the Democratic Party is handling antisemitism, according to a new American Jewish Committee survey of Jewish attitudes towards antisemitism. Despite most Jews identifying as Democrats, slightly more viewed the GOP’s handling of antisemitism favorably.

The survey, released on Wednesday and conducted by SSRS between Oct. 8 and Nov. 29, 2024, found broad dissatisfaction in how all institutions were dealing with antisemitism. The poll found 39% of respondents approved of the Democrats’ response to antisemitism, including 41% of Jewish Democrats, while 59% disapproved. Just under half of American Jews (45%) backed the GOP’s handling of antisemitism.

Forty percent approved of the federal government’s response, while 42% approved of Congress’ legislative reaction to the issue.

Over three-quarters of Jewish respondents agreed that antisemitism of all types — from the extreme left, the extreme right and in the name of Islam — were serious threats.

The poll found a national environment where American Jews feel antisemitism is on the rise, though most said they haven’t personally been the victim of an antisemitic attack or harassment. Over half of American Jews (53%) said antisemitism is a “very serious problem” — up 16 points in the last six years. More than half of American Jews (56%) said they have also avoided identifying themselves as Jews publicly — a significant rise since 2022, when 38% said they changed their behavior to keep their identity private.

At the same time, only a minority of the American Jewish community has faced a personal episode of antisemitism. Just under one-quarter of American Jews (24%) said they were the target of an antisemitic remark, an antisemitic attack or vandalism of their personal property — a downtick from the previous year.

Nearly one-third (30%) said the institutions they affiliated with have been a target of antisemitic activity, with most citing graffiti as the main culprit.

“Antisemitism has reached a tipping point in America, threatening the freedoms of American Jews and casting an ominous shadow across our society,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for leaders across the U.S. We must act now to protect Jews – and America – from rising antisemitism. That one-third of American Jews have been the target of antisemitism in the past year should raise red flags for every American and our leaders.”

On college campuses, nearly one-quarter (22%) of Jewish students said they felt they were excluded from a group because of their religion. About 4 in 10 Jewish (43%) students say they have avoided talking about Israel on campus or with classmates. And just under one-third (32%) said they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event due to being Jewish. (AJC partnered with Hillel International to ensure a sizable subsample of Jewish students for the survey.)

The poll also found that the American Jewish community’s support for Israel remains broad and deep. Eighty-one percent of American Jews said that caring about Israel was “very important” (51%) or “somewhat important” (30%) to them — in line with polling on the issue in recent years. Among Gen Zers between the ages of 18-29, 40% said Israel was “very important” to them — an 11-point jump over the last year.

AJC also surveyed a broad sample of U.S. adults on issues relating to antisemitism. The most notable finding from the separate survey was that younger Americans in particular are less concerned about antisemitism, compared to their Jewish counterparts.

While 96% of Jewish respondents between the ages of 18-29 said antisemitism was a serious problem, 59% of Gen Zers overall said the same. While over half of younger Jews agreed the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was an antisemitic statement, fewer than one-quarter of Gen Zers overall said the same.