Jewish American support for Biden stands firm amid Israel-Hamas war

Jewish Americans appear to remain strongly behind President Biden in his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas even as he bleeds support from some other groups. 

The administration’s response has drawn criticism from some segments of the public and led to concern that it could hurt his standing in the polls for the November election, especially with young voters and Arab Americans. 

But polls have shown that Jewish Americans, who largely consider themselves Democrats, overwhelmingly back Biden’s handling of the war in his support for Israel’s right to self-defense and condemnation of the Oct. 7 attack and antisemitism. 

“There could not be a stronger leader more aligned with the interests of the Jewish community than President Joe Biden,” said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 

“He has not only stood by Israel in his unequivocal condemnation of terror, support of Israel’s security and its right to self-defense, but he has also pledged that he supports the American Jewish community as it faces this rising scourge of hate,” she continued. 

Biden has found himself in a difficult situation politically as the war has raged on, as voters express strong feelings for both the Israeli and Palestinian causes.

A New York Times/Siena College poll found only 33 percent of voters approved of Biden’s handling of the war. The results of the poll reveal conflicting sentiments among those who disapprove, with a third saying Biden has been too supportive of Israel and almost the same amount saying he has been too supportive of the Palestinians. 

An NBC News poll from November found just half of Democrats approve of Biden’s handling of the war, while 70 percent of voters age 18 to 34 disapprove. 

But Jewish voters have been an exception, giving the president high marks for his navigation of the war and fight against antisemitism, which has seen a sharp rise since the war began. 

A poll from the nonpartisan Jewish Electorate Institute found in November that nearly three-quarters of Jewish voters support Biden’s handling of the war. An age gap in support still exists, but a slight majority of the youngest Jewish voters said they support his handling. 

Soifer said the way Biden has handled the conflict will “only solidify” what is already a strong base of support for him among Jewish voters. More than 7 in 10 Jewish voters backed Biden in the 2020 election. 

Biden has repeatedly condemned antisemitism throughout his administration and especially since war broke out, pledging to confront it “at every turn.” He has also denounced Islamophobia. 

His administration had previously taken steps to address antisemitism before the war started, launching a national strategy to fight antisemitism in May. 

Biden has also more recently navigated the task of supporting Israel’s right to self-defense while also pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how the country has carried out the war. 

Forty-four percent of Jewish American voters said they are more likely to vote for Biden because of his support for Israel, according to a poll released last month by the Democratic Majority for Israel. 

Tali DeGroot, national political director of the advocacy group J Street, which supports the two-state solution, said the administration is balancing well the “need” for Israel to respond to the Oct. 7 attack while pushing for Israel to do “everything in its power” to protect civilians in Gaza amid a rising death toll. 

Soifer and DeGroot said that while they do not expect the war to be a deciding factor for Jewish voters over “kitchen-table” issues all Americans vote on, they acknowledge it could energize them further. 

“I think the events of the last couple months will inspire folks to want to reelect the president,” DeGroot said. “There’s so much on the line, including foreign policy and domestic issues.” 

But other polling has exposed a rift among Democratic voters in how they view the state of Israel and its handling of its war with Hamas. The Times/Siena poll released last month found 31 percent of Democrats said they sympathized with Israel, while 34 percent said their sympathies lie with Palestinians. Sixteen percent said their sympathies lie with both. 

Some have argued this rift is making Jewish voters less comfortable in the party.

“The divide between Jews, the Democrats, is not new,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist. “It’s been going on for a while. The more observant community left the Democrats a long time ago and now other people are starting to get the message, which is they’re not welcome unless they conform to a particular point of view.” 

That divide is most evident between progressive Democrats and the establishment flank of the party. In November, 22 House Democrats joined their colleagues to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, over her rhetoric about Israel. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the country, delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor condemning rising antisemitism. 

Arguably the most high-profile instance of Democratic divisions came last month on a vote on a GOP-led resolution denouncing antisemitism. The resolution passed with bipartisan support, but 92 Democrats voted present and 13 voted against. 

Opponents pointed to the resolution’s statement considering anti-Zionism to be antisemitism, arguing this conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism. 

But Democratic strategists said a shift has occurred within the party on Israel. 

Democratic strategist Jon Reinish said the divide had been “simmering” before Oct. 7, but bipartisan support for Israel used to be “uniform.” He said the election of members of the Squad, some of the most progressive members of Congress, replaced Democrats who had been more steadfastly behind Israel. 

Tensions have boiled over on numerous college campuses around the country, with some liberal-leaning student groups protesting Israel’s actions in the war in ways some critics have argued lean into antisemitism. 

The presidents of three universities also faced backlash following testimony they gave to Congress last month in which they did not directly state if calling for the genocide of Jews constitutes bullying and harassment on campus. 

The House approved a bipartisan resolution denouncing their testimony, but Democrats were split, with 84 in favor and 125 opposed. 

The Jewish Electorate Institute poll found Jewish voters trust Biden much more than Trump to fight antisemitism by 38 points, but only trust congressional Democrats more than Republicans by 14 points. 

Reinish said progressives’ criticism of Israel in the past had been mostly focused on objecting “strenuously” to Israel's policies. 

“This seems far more sweeping, and it has gone far beyond objecting to national security questions or funding, or certain Israeli ultraconservative government policies,” he said. 

But Reinish noted the party is not as divided as it may appear, saying the sharpest critics of Israel in Congress represent a “fringe” view in the Democratic Party. He said these members, including Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), receive outsized attention because of social media and activities on college campuses, but their views are not as widespread. 

“I think reports of the Democratic Party being really truly fractured on this issue are overblown, and I think the data bears that out,” Reinish said. “If you get off Twitter and you get out of Washington, you see more uniformity.” 

Democrats are skeptical any split will drive Jewish voters toward Republicans, especially with Trump receiving a small number of Jewish votes in 2020 and having low support from them in polls. 

But Reinish said the divide could lead to some progressive members facing serious primary challenges this year. 

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who voted against the antisemitism resolution, is facing a primary challenge from George Latimer, a Westchester County executive. Latimer has criticized some of Bowman’s statements on the war. 

Similarly, a moderate Democrat who nearly defeated Omar in the 2022 primary is running against her this year. 

“I think all eyes are going to be on, 'Do these members lose their primaries on this issue?’” Reinish said. “And if you see that they do, I think that's going to send a big message.”