Jewish Times: Jewish Voters Concerned With Domestic Issues Ahead of 2020
By Cathi Conti Sinsabaugh
Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America discussed the poll’s implications for the 2020 election.
“There is a constant here that Jews are Democrats because Democrats care for Jewish values,” Soifer said. “But there have been new developments here. In addition to a wide range of domestic issues that Jews are voting on, we also know that Jews are also voting on their own security. And this is a new dynamic we are seeing in this county.”
For 2020, Soifer agrees that Jewish values will dominate the political debate among Jewish voters. “We know that three quarters of the Jewish community are Democrats and continually vote Democrat,” Soifer said. “But what is unique about this moment is that it’s not just about political affiliation, but it’s about Jewish values, and that President Trump has not reflected Jewish values. One thing is new: American Jews are voting to their insecurity and the rise in anti-Semitism, and they clearly associate their rise in insecurity with Trump.”
Matt Brooks, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s executive director, said the poll was good news for Trump.
“The Jewish numbers for Trump are a floor and generic Dem numbers are a ceiling,” Brooks said on Twitter. “No one who now says they’re for Trump are going to change their minds. He will get a higher share of the Jewish vote than this.”
The poll reflected a healthy representation of millennial voters, as was heavily weighted towards non-affiliated and cultural Jews, which Soifer agreed is “representative of the American Jewish population.”
So has the anti-Semitism expressed by freshmen Democrats such as Reps. IIhan Omar (D-Minn) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) had an adverse impact on Jewish voters’ views of the Democrat party?
“They (Jews) are clearly not concerned with Democrats like Ilhan Omar as much as they are concerned with white supremacy,” Soifer said.