Poll: American Jews Oppose Aipac, Favor Israel Sanctions

The liberal Zionist group, J Street polled American Jews just before Election Day asking their views on Israel and US politics.  As you know, one of the subjects most important to me, and which I write about regularly (even obsessively!) is Jewish attitudes on these subjects. I track their changes over time and how that affects US policy toward Israel.

The poll offers concrete data points to trace the attitudes and how they’ve changed.  You can do that by comparing this poll with past ones (which I’ve done here).

Here are some salient excerpts:

1. Jewish vote: Republicans, especially Jewish Republicans constantly claim, without any real proof, that Jews are abandoning the Democratic Party; because the Party allegedly has become anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, etc.  The poll offers concrete data refuting the GOP.  In the just past midterm, 72% of Jews voted Democratic. 24% voted Republican. That is precisely within the mean of past elections, which have ranged from 65-75% Democratic.

1. Electoral priorities: Among those interests respondents felt were most important in determining their vote, Israel was only rated fifth behind democracy, cost of living, anti-Semitism and corruption.  In an earlier poll, when asked about priorities Israel ranked ninth out of 20.  The difference between the two results is that the first ranked voting priorities and the second was formulated in more general terms.

This affirms that Jews have precisely the same interests as non-Jewish voters.  They are America’s issues, not Israel’s and not parochially Jewish.  Jews are American. Part of the American fabric. Their vote is not primarily or even secondarily motivated by Israel, nor do they hold sectarian or “Jewish” views.

3. Views of Mamdani: Comparing views of various national Democratic figures, somewhat surprisingly 49% of Jews view Zohran Mamdani favorably (49% view him unfavorably). Considering the drumbeat of criticism and tens of millions spent by Zionist billionaires to paint him as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, it’s a wonder the unfavorable numbers aren’t higher. This again points to the fact that Jewish attitudes are the same as those of non-Jews.  They are not influenced by Zionist or pro-Israel priorities, regardless of how much the fat-cats spend.

1. Aipac: Views of Aipac have undergone a major shift: 39% said they were less likely to vote for candidates supported by the pro-Israel group.  Though 48% said it makes no difference, that view is rapidly changing the bigger the group’s shift toward Republican values and the stronger its support of Israel’s Judeo-supremacist government.

5. Palestine vs Israel: One finding surprised me. Asked if they viewed Israelis or Palestinians more favorably, only 23% said Palestinians, while 39% favored Israelis.  Polls of American attitudes showed pluralities of Democrats viewed Palestinians more favorably. In this, Jews do seem to different from their fellow Americans.

1. Two-states: As for projected solutions to the Palestine-Israel conflict: 39% (a plurality) favored a Palestinian state accompanied by normalization of Arab ties to Israel. Only 17% supported a one-state solution. Worth noting that the findings only reflect what respondents would like to happen, not what can happen or is practicable.  Certainly, there is almost no chance there will be a Palestinian state or full normalization of Arab ties.

2. Military aid: 31% supported cutting off US military aid to Israel in light of the Gaza genocide.  It’s significant that this question used the “controversial” term “genocide,” which Zionists have sought (with varied success) to stigmatize. It is a tacit indication that a significant portion of American Jews believe Gaza is a genocide. 39% believe aid should be conditional on supporting “American interests and values.”  A rather vague phrase.

51% hold that the US should continue providing a $4-billion subsidy of military aid to Israel; while 49% believe the US should cut off the subsidy. Both Trump and Netanyahu, facing increasing opposition to such aid, have proposed Israel buying US weapons outright, which would do little to change the aid package. 41% believe that continued US subsidies should should end. Military aid cut-off: 21% believe US military aid should end completely. 44% believe it should continue “in compliance with US law.”

1. Israel Sanctions: 76% believe the US should impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who “commit violence against Palestinians.” A similar percentage support them against government ministers [ie. Smotrich and Ben Gvir) who “aid and abet” such violence.

9. Anti-Semitism: 60% believe that Israel Lobby groups [ADL, Aipac, etc.] and their billionaire donors [ie. Bill Ackman, Paul Singer, Michael Bloomberg] are exploiting the issue to garner support for unpopular Israeli policies. 80% believe that it increases US anti-Semitism. 63% believe that canceling figures and events critical of Israel, and doxxing students who are anti-Israel, increases anti-Semitism. Cutting off aid to universities which allegedly fail to combat anti-Semitism actually increases it (63%).

Finally, these results are a moving target and changing rapidly “thanks” to Israeli genocide, which is wiping out Jewish support for Israel by the day.  This in turn will have a dramatic impact on views within the Democratic Party–the preference of the vast majority of Jews.  These changes will be embraced not just by non-Jews, but by Jews as well. The Lobby will have gradually decreasing levels of support despite the increasing billions it and its donors muster in election cycles.  Candidates too will reflect these changes–more slowly than the grassroots, but they will follow and this will dramatically increase political opposition to Israel.