Good News for Jews
Good news for Jews this week: On Monday, JDCA released the first national poll of Jewish voters since Kamala Harris became the nominee. In a direct Harris-Trump matchup, Jewish voters support Harris 72% to 25%… and this was before the debate.
The poll was conducted in late August through early September, and we’re confident that Harris’s numbers are even higher today. Donald Trump’s 25% of the Jewish vote, on the other hand, is exactly the same amount he received in 2016, which means he’s made zero inroads with Jewish voters in the past eight years.
Kamala Harris had a rock-solid debate performance. As Halie wrote in The Jerusalem Post: “Vice President Harris demonstrated steady leadership, moral clarity, and command of the issues. She provided solutions to the challenges facing the American people and a forward-looking vision for our future. In the shadow of Harris’s strength, Donald Trump was exposed as a weak, aspiring emperor with no clothes. Trump was untethered to the truth, utterly devoid of substance, and detached from reality.”
If Jewish voters show up and vote for Democrats, Kamala Harris will win. That’s why JDCA is working every day to contact Jewish voters where and how it matters the most to impact the outcome of this election. We hope you’ll join us and support our efforts today.
Issues of importance to Jewish voters were front and center at the debate, and the contrast between Harris and Trump, including on Israel, could not have been more clear. Vice President Harris unequivocally condemned Hamas. She reaffirmed her call for a ceasefire that includes the release of the hostages. She reiterated her support of a two-state solution and provided an explicit assurance that she will “always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.”
Donald Trump, on the other hand, failed to condemn Hamas or mention the hostages, and he failed to articulate any position on Israel or provide any comment on Israel’s security. Instead, he predicted Israel’s demise – not once but twice in the course of the debate – even going as far as to say that “the whole place will get blown up” if he loses the election. This was the second time in a week that Trump mentioned the destruction of Israel – the first was speaking before the Republican Jewish Coalition – which was even troubling to his Republican supporters.
As if that wasn’t enough, Donald Trump ended the night with one more attack – his oft-repeated insult that millions of American Jews need to have their head examined – which, according to those asked in our poll, at least four out of five Jewish voters believe is antisemitic. Read more in The Jerusalem Post and JTA.
On Wednesday, political analyst Simon Rosenberg joined JDCA to debrief the debate. We discussed Vice President Harris’s successes, how to communicate her support of Israel with others in our community, and what we all can do following the debate.
Simon left us with a clear call to action:
“However much time you were going to commit to volunteering in whatever way you volunteer, whether it’s emailing your friends, or posting on social media, or making phone calls, or canvassing, you gotta do more. We have an advantage now, and we have to prosecute it aggressively.”
We can all do more, and JDCA has the tools you need to get engaged. Visit our DO SOMETHING website so we can expand our targeted efforts to mobilize Jewish voters in battleground states.
Thank you for your partnership and support.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ron Klein
Board Chair, Jewish Democratic Council of America
Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America