Former President Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican ticket could win a record share of Jewish voters in November, his strategists say — and even some Democratic politicians agree.
Growing Jewish support for Republicans is fueled by voters’ disgust with rising anti-Semitism and far-left Democrats’ hostility toward Israel, Trump’s camp and some politicians said.
“President Trump has a chance to get the largest share of the Jewish vote ever,” Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin told the Post.
“Anti-Semitism is a real problem.”
Historically, Democrats running for the White House receive about 70% or more of the Jewish vote and Republicans 30% or less.
Former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower did best among Jewish voters – and both received only about 40 percent of the vote each.
McLaughlin predicted a surge in Jewish support for Trump this year in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. He said the surge would also help candidates in runoff elections, as well as in House races in six swing districts in New York City suburbs that are home to some of the largest Jewish neighborhoods in the country.
Even a small shift in votes could sway the Electoral College, since President Biden won these states over Trump by 3% or less in 2020.
Jewish voters have noticed that some Democrats are soft on Israel, said former Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish and was the Republican nominee for New York governor in 2022.
“There is so much equivocation and equivocation in the Democratic Party on Israel, and the Democratic Party has allowed its pro-Hamas wing to metastasize,” said Zeldin, a Trump representative.
The fury of Jewish voters and activists has already proved crucial in Democratic primary elections in recent months — helping to oust anti-Israel New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman of the 16th House District, which includes leafy Westchester and parts of the Bronx, as well as his left-wing colleague, Rep. Cori Bush, last week in Missouri.
A recent poll conducted for the Teach Coalition found that Jews are more likely to vote in Pennsylvania and six key New York House districts because of rising anti-Semitism and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
According to the recent Teach Coalition poll, Trump is losing 43% of support among Jewish voters in the Keystone State.
There are more than 300,000 potential Jewish voters in Pennsylvania and New York State’s six districts. The New York State districts that are up for grabs are Districts 1 and 4 on Long Island, Districts 17, 18 and 19 in Westchester and Rockland counties and the Hudson Valley, and District 22 in the Syracuse area.
Trump won the support of 37% of Jewish voters in those New York districts, compared to 61% for Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democratic foe, according to the Teach Coalition survey.
Yet, according to some sources, it is difficult to survey Jewish voters. Many ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters refuse to be interviewed by phone, and some seek advice from their rabbi before voting.
But lawmakers from both parties predict that Jewish voters in southern Brooklyn — home to ultra-Orthodox Jews and refugees from the former Soviet Union — will flock to the GOP in even greater numbers than before.
“I believe the Jewish vote is going to shift to the right in astronomical numbers in this election,” said Republican City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Jewish woman originally from Ukraine who represents Gravesend, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach.
“The deep-rooted anti-Semitic rot within the Democratic Party is evident, Jewish Democrats feel betrayed and will reject it resoundingly at the ballot box,” she said.
State Sen. Simcha Felder, a conservative Democrat who represents the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood, said Trump would crush Harris in his district by more than 2 to 1 because of rampant anti-Semitism, the migrant crisis and inflation.
“They’re going to go after those in power, and the Democrats are in power,” Felder said of Jewish voters.
“The increasing anti-Semitic acts are affecting Jews in a very negative way. But that’s not all. Large Jewish families, like other families, feel the impact of inflation when they go to the grocery store,” Felder said.
Jews are upset that progressives and left-wing protesters – particularly the Democratic Socialists of America – are supporting Hamas terrorists rather than Israel in the Gaza war.
“Some of the comments and actions of the Democratic Socialists of America are not only anti-Israel, but anti-Semitic. Some Jewish voters are concerned about the DSA,” Litwack said.
Harris’ team has rejected claims that Jewish voters are defecting to Trump’s rump camp and the GOP.
“There is one candidate in this race who consistently denigrates American Jews, elevates neo-Nazis and uses anti-Semitic terms, and that is Donald Trump,” Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak said.
“And our campaign brings together voters who reject his hateful rhetoric and who will defeat him at the ballot box in November.”
Last week, Trump said that Jews who don’t vote for him should “have their heads examined.”
