Some 77% of Jewish voters voted for Biden, compared to 21% who cast their votes for Trump, according to the poll. This is the worst presidential election performance by Republicans among the Jewish community since 2008, according to J Street.
In congressional races, American Jews supported Democratic candidates by a similar margin – 78% to 21%.
“In this historically pivotal election, Jewish voters have just totally repudiated Donald Trump and a Republican Party that has catered to the most far-Right, xenophobic elements of the country,” said J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami.“While Trump touted an ‘exodus’ of Jews from the Democratic Party, the only exodus we saw here was Republicans losing a significant chunk of their already small number of Jewish supporters,” he said.
“A strategy built on the myth that Jewish votes can be won with hawkish Israel policy is bound to fail, when over and over again American Jews have demonstrated that they are among the most progressive voters in the American electorate, with views on Israel that are pro-diplomacy and pro-peace,” Ben-Ami said.
Some 49% of poll respondents identified themselves as “strong Democrats,” while only 11% identified themselves as “strong Republicans.”
The poll found that American Jews voted primarily on the issues of the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, healthcare and the economy, with only 5% listing Israel as their most or second-most important issue. This is only about half the 9% that listed Israel as one of their top two priorities in 2016.
The poll also found that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen highly unfavorably among American Jews. His favorability is rated at -30, a steep fall from +30 in 2014 and +12 in 2016.
Three-quarters (74%) of Jewish voters supported rejoining the Iran nuclear agreement, and 75% believed that the US should pressure Israelis and Palestinians to make peace.
“Jewish voters continue to overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates, evenhanded US engagement in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution and a return to Obama-era policies such as the Iran nuclear agreement,” said pollster Jim Gerstein.
J Street is a pro-Israel, pro-peace, liberal advocacy group. The survey has a confidence level of 95% and a +/- 3.5 percentage point margin of error.