METHODOLOGY

This report is based on two online surveys of American Jews conducted in 2019 and 2021. The surveys were designed by The Mellman Group in consultation with the Ruderman Family Foundation. The first survey was conducted among 2,500 American Jewish adults, during December 5-19, 2019. The margin of error overall is +/- 1.96%, higher for subgroups. The second survey was conducted during October 11-November 1, 2021, among 1,000 of those who participated in the 2019 survey. The margin of error is +/- 3.1% overall, higher for subgroups.

Both surveys used probability-based panels which are open to all households, and not restricted to opt-in members or other approaches which can bias or limit participation. The sample was then matched to public demographic data on Jews in the United States (U.S.), including the Pew Research Center’s Religious Life survey of American Jews. The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using propensity scores on demographics including age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education, and voter registration status. In contrast to the Pew study of Jewish Americans in 2020, participants in this survey had to identify themselves as Jewish. Pew’s study included, for example, those who had a Jewish parent but did not consider themselves Jewish.

The sample size for the 2019 survey was large enough to examine data within subgroups. The survey included representation of smaller subgroups within the Jewish community, such as nonwhite and Jews with disabilities. Yet, caution should be exercised in examining extremely small sample sizes because margins of error increase as subsample size decreases. The 2021 recontact survey was conducted only among those who participated in the earlier 2019 research. The recontact cases were also matched to the same sampling frame.

The recontact methodology using the two surveys allows us to compare trends in the attitudes of American Jews and provides a comparison with changes at the individual level. Even when overall trends look fairly stable, there is usually some movement underneath the surface which can be instructive. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this recontact methodology has been used in survey research of American Jews.

A note on timing. Little did we know when we conducted the first survey that within months the entire world would be plunged into the new reality of a global pandemic. COVID-19 posed a significant challenge for many communal and social service agencies, and Jewish communal institutions were no exception. As is often the case with the Jewish community, the institutions rose to the occasion and in some ways even thrived during the crisis. At the same time, the

immediacy of the crisis may have overshadowed or temporarily pushed aside other challenges and concerns.

Another significant change that took place within the research period are the elections in both the U.S. (2020) and Israel (2021), which resulted in the incumbent leaders Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu being replaced. The second survey, conducted in 2021, discusses these changes and their potential influence on the respondents’ perceptionsand experiences.