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American Jews give Biden 70% approval rating
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American Jews give Biden 70% approval rating
Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA)—American Jewish voters give President Joe Biden a 70% approval rating, an American Jewish Committee poll found, while 26% of Jewish voters disapprove of his job performance.
The survey published Wednesday, June 2, the first of its kind so far in Biden’s presidency, is commensurate with past Jewish support for Democratic presidents. It is released as Biden seeks to quell the coronavirus pandemic that consumed the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, calm racial tensions roiled by a year of protests against police violence, revive the economy, and manage the crisis engendered by the conflict last month between Israel and Hamas.
The survey showed that 79% of respondents approved of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and 19% disapproved; 68% approved of his handling of race relations and 28% disapproved; and 71% approved of his handling of the economy, while 27% disapproved. On antisemitism, which has spiked in recent months, 64% approve of how Biden handles the threat, while 23% disapprove.
Biden did not fare as well on the immigration issue during a crisis as migrants increase at the Mexico-U.S. border: 54% of respondents approved and 42% disapproved of how he has handled immigration.
Other issues with narrower gaps were his handling of the Middle East: 58% percent approve of his handling of U.S.Israel relations, while 27% disapprove. The survey of 1,000 respondents reached by phone took place March 25-May 9, the day before the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Biden also wants to reenter the Iran nuclear deal. The survey found that 55% percent of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of the Iranian nuclear issue, while 32% do not.
Biden had the approval of only 19 percent of Orthodox Jews. In recent years, Orthodox Jewish polling has shown that the community politically is the polar opposite of the broader Jewish community, with overwhelming majorities of Orthodox voters supporting Republicans.
The survey was carried out by the SSRS research firm and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, although the margin would be larger for subsets, for instance, in measuring the Orthodox community’s approval.
Elements of the survey covering “U.S. political issues, U.S-Israel relations, and the peace process,” will be released later this month, an AJC release said.
Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Joe Biden said a spate of antisemitic attacks are terrorizing American Jews and “must stop.”
“In the last weeks, our nation has seen a series of anti-Semitic attacks, targeting and terrorizing American Jews,” Biden said in a statement released Friday, May 28.
Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for American Jewish institutions, says antisemitic attacks, including vandalism and physical attacks, have increased 80 percent over the last month, spurred in part by Israel’s war with Hamas.
Biden named some of the attacks. “We have seen a brick thrown through [the] window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved into the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages,” the statement said. “These attacks are despicable, unconscionable, un-American, and they must stop.”
Biden did not mention measures he was taking but referred to a memo Attorney General Merrick Garland sent Justice Department staff on Thursday, May 27. Garland said he would increase resources to streamline the reporting of hate crimes, designate staff to enforce civil and criminal civil rights statutes, and increase coordination with local communities.
