US Jews on confidence in Trump, support for his proposals, and the war in Israel.
Main Findings
- A fifth of survey respondents think Trump’s proposal to relocate the Gaza population to other countries is practical and should be advanced – compared to half of Jewish Israelis who believe so.
- The majority say they would likely oppose a US move to buy and own Gaza.
- Nearly half (45%) of the respondent panel has no confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; 41% of respondents have no confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding Israel-US relations.
- A change since last month: Most panel participants now feel that the US supports Israel enough.
- The American respondent panel’s level of confidence in an Israeli victory in the war is higher than among Jewish Israelis.
- 39% of respondents think the Israeli government is too close to the Trump administration.
- Half (51%) believe that according to Jewish teachings, one should oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
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A general note on the respondent panel: After a full year of activity and following a detailed analysis of the data on panel participants – their demographic composition and views – we have begun to include aggregate figures that reflect the position of the panel as an entirety. This signals the maturation of the Voice of the Jewish People monthly survey process and the stabilization of the respondent panel, in such a way that we can now represent them as a fixed group, where the trends observed among them have, in our view, a significance that reaches beyond their breakdown into sub-groups by religious stream (Reform, Conservative, ultra-Orthodox, etc.), or political orientation (liberal, conservative, centrist).
The group of American Jews whose views are represented in JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People surveys consists predominantly of those with a relatively strong connection to Jewish identity, and/or Jewish institutions, and/or Israel. Our interest in this group is precisely due to that characterization. On average, this group is more active in the Jewish community, more connected to Jewish institutions of various kinds, contributes more to Jewish causes, identifies with Jewish struggles, and in many cases functions as the backbone of the larger American Jewish community – the largest outside of Israel. ( JPPI tracks the views of Jewish Israelis via its monthly Israeli Society Index.) Therefore, there is a special significance to regularly and systematically monitoring the views, sentiments, and activities of this connected group, frequently and in an orderly way. Our January report included a methodological appendix that details the composition of the Voice of the Jewish People panel, and the differences between JPPI’s survey and other surveys of American Jewry. It can be viewed on the JPPI website.
Support for Trump’s Proposals
This past month, President Trump issued a dramatic and controversial proposal to relocate the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip to other countries. This proposal was met with harsh criticism around the world, especially in Arab countries, which are currently trying to formulate an alternative proposal for the future of Gaza.
In this month’s survey we looked at how American Jews view this issue, and compared the results obtained from the respondent panel to the Jewish respondents in this month’s Israeli Society Index. American Jews show relatively little support for Trump’s proposal. Twenty-nine percent of respondents consider the proposal immoral and unacceptable; 28% say the proposal is impractical but would support it if it were; a fifth (21%) think the plan is a distraction, while another fifth (20%) believe that it is a practical plan that should be advanced.
There are major differences between the views of American Jews, as reflected in this survey, and those of Jewish Israelis regarding Trump’s proposal. According to JPPI’s February Israeli Society Index survey released two weeks ago (one should keep in mind that differences in views may in part stem from the time gap between the two surveys), half of Jewish Israelis feel that the Trump plan is practical and that efforts should be made to advance it. Only 3% of Jewish Israelis responded that the proposal is immoral – an unacceptable population transfer. Across ideological cohorts – right-wing (conservatives), centrist, and left-wing (liberals), – Jewish Israelis show greater support for President Trump’s proposal than their American counterparts. Most (60%) “strong liberal” respondents among the American panel consider Trump’s proposal immoral and unacceptable, compared to a quarter (27%) of “left-wing” respondents in the Israeli Society Index. Overall, the views of “strong liberal” American respondents are more similar to those of Arab Israelis than of Jewish Israelis in the left-wing camp. A similar trend is also seen on the other side of the political spectrum – most Jewish Israelis in the right-wing cohort (81%) think the Trump plan is practical and should be pursued. By contrast, only slightly more than half (56%) of “strong conservatives” on the American respondent panel express a similar sentiment.
Most panel participants (59%) report that they would likely oppose a US move to buy and own Gaza, as President Trump has proposed. About a fifth (17%) responded that they would likely support such a course of action, while a quarter (24%) said they needed more information to have an opinion on the issue. The further one moves along the ideological spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the percentage of those in support of such a course of action. It must be noted, however, that none of the ideological cohorts, even the most conservative, showed a majority in favor of the idea. Overwhelming majorities of the “strong liberal” (90%) and “leaning liberal” (74%) cohorts, and half of the “centrist” group (48%), responded that they would likely oppose a US move to buy and own Gaza. In a breakdown by voting pattern, most Kamala Harris voters (84%) said they would oppose such a course of action, while 42% of Trump voters said they would likely support it, and 40% said they needed more information to have a position.
In the wake of Trump’s Gaza proposal, several public opinion polls have been conducted in Israel over the past month. These polls indicate that most Israelis would support a solution to the conflict in Gaza that includes encouraging the relocation of Gazans to other countries. Most of this survey’s respondent panel (69%) reacted positively to those findings – they feel like the Israelis, identify with them, or at least understand the Israeli view. About a fifth of the respondent panel (17%) found the Israeli view troubling, while a tenth (11%) thought the Israeli view unreasonable.
Most of those in the “strong conservative” (71%) and “leaning conservative” (55%) cohorts concurred with Israeli opinion (as reflected in the recent polls in Israel). The further one moves toward the liberal end of both the ideological and religious spectrums, the higher the percentage of respondents who believe that the Jewish-Israeli view is concerning or unacceptable. Most Trump voters (66%) reported agreement with the Israelis, that is, they would support a solution to the conflict in Gaza that includes relocating Gazans to other countries. Harris voters showed no uniform outlook on the issue.
Confidence in Trump
This month we again examined respondents’ confidence that Trump will “do the right thing” in four areas. Overall, and as expected, one can see that the level of confidence in Trump expressed by ideologically conservative Jews is significantly higher than that expressed among liberal Jews. A similar trend can be found when the results are broken down by religiosity level – the further one moves along the religiosity spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the degree of confidence in Trump’s future actions
Of the four areas queried – the Israeli-Palestinian issue, dealing with Iran, the fight against antisemitism, and US-Israel relations – respondents expressed the highest confidence in Trump’s handling of the fight against antisemitism and US-Israel relations. The issue that netted the lowest level of confidence was Trump’s future handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Forty-five percent of respondents reported no confidence that Trump will “do the right thing” in this sphere. Except for dealing with Iran, this month registered a rise in confidence that Trump will do the right thing.
A third (32%) of all respondents say they have “a lot” of confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding US-Israel relations, while 41% say they have no confidence that Trump will do the right thing in this sphere, and a fifth (22%) say they have “a little” confidence that he’ll do the right thing with respect to relations between the two countries. There has been a significant rise in the percentage of respondents who report that they have no confidence that Trump will “do the right thing” regarding US-Israel relations compared to last month’s survey (from 27% to 41%).
A quarter of the respondent panel (28%) say they have a lot of confidence that Trump will do the right thing in dealing with Iran, another quarter (26%) say they have a little confidence, and a third (36%) said they have no confidence in the incoming president on this issue. Most conservatives report having a lot of confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding Iran, while most “strong liberals” (70%) and 46% of those in the “leaning liberal” cohort say they have no confidence in Trump with regard to dealing with Iran. There was a slight drop from last month in the overall share of respondents who report having a lot of confidence that Trump will act correctly vis-à-vis Iran.
This month shows a rise in the percentage of respondents reporting a great deal of confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – last month 16% of respondents gave this answer, while this month’s share is 23%. The rise was found across ideological cohorts, with those in the “leaning liberal” and “strong liberal” cohorts showing the largest increase. Currently, most “strong conservatives” and 42% of those in the “leaning conservative” cohort report a great deal of confidence that President Trump will do the right thing in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By contrast, majorities in the “strong liberal” (83%) and “leaning liberal” (59%) cohorts say they have no confidence in Trump on this issue.
Support for Israel
A majority of respondents (57%) believe the US supports Israel enough, 18% say the US doesn’t support Israel enough, and another 18% think the US supports Israel too much. This represents a change from last month, when most respondents (54%) thought that the US does not support Israel enough. In fact, this is the first month since the start of JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People surveys that a majority of conservatives and centrists did not report thinking that US support for Israel is inadequate – an apparent result of the change in administration in the US and the views expressed by President Trump. We detected a significant decline this month from the preceding months in the share of strong conservative and leaning conservative respondents who think the US does not support Israel enough. At the same time, we found a slight increase among liberal and centrist respondents who think the US supports Israel too much.
Half of the respondent panel (51%) thinks the Israeli government is close to the US administration to the right extent; 39% of respondents believe the Israeli government is too close to the US administration, and 3% think the Israeli government is not close enough to the US administration. A majority of Conservative (55%), Orthodox (70%), and ultra-Orthodox (62%) respondents believe the closeness between the Israeli government and the US administration is close to the right level, while most Reform Jews on the respondent panel (53%) believe the Israeli government is too close to the US administration. Most Harris voters (59%) think this as well, while most Trump voters (86%) feel that the closeness between the Israeli government and US administration is at the right level.
Israel at War
After nearly a year and a half of war, we looked at the respondent panel’s level of confidence in an Israeli victory in the current war. Fourteen percent of the respondent panel is totally certain that Israel is winning the war, while 17% are not at all sure this is the case. The further one moves along the ideological spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the share of respondents who are totally certain that Israel is winning the war. A similar trend emerges when we look at the survey data broken down by religious stream. When broken down by voting behavior, 28% of Trump voters are totally certain that Israel is winning the war, while 8% of Harris voters hold this view.
The data indicates that, in a comparison between the American Jews surveyed and Jewish Israelis, American Jews’ confidence in Israeli victory is somewhat higher than among Jewish Israelis: 15% of American Jews feel “totally certain” that Israel is winning the war, while 9% of Jewish Israelis feel this way.
Support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
In recent years there have been myriad initiatives in the US to enact legislation and regulations under the DEI rubric. American conservatives have expressed harsh criticism of this approach, arguing that the initiatives lead to reverse discrimination, prioritizing one demographic group over another, and reinforce radical-progressive views. Among Jews, critical voices have also noted that these DEI initiatives often ignore antisemitism and exclude Jews, especially since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The new administration is currently working assiduously to diminish or cancel altogether the entire array of DEI initiatives.
This month, we looked at respondent views of these initiatives, and the degree to which such initiatives are supported by traditional Jewish teachings. Forty-one percent of the respondent panel said that Jewish tradition obliges Jews to support DEI initiatives, while 21% said that Jewish tradition requires Jews to oppose such initiatives. Twenty-four percent think Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us regarding DEI. Most respondents in the “strong liberal” (82%) and “leaning liberal” (53%) cohorts believe that Jewish tradition justifies support for DEI. By contrast, half (53%) of the “strong conservative” respondents, and 43% of those in the “leaning conservative” cohort, think Jews should oppose these initiatives, based on Jewish tradition. Liberals attach greater importance to Jewish tradition when expressing support for DEI than do conservatives. In a breakdown by voting behavior, 63% of Harris voters feel that, based on Jewish tradition, Jews should support DEI initiatives. Half of Trump voters (47%) feel that Jews should oppose such initiatives based on Jewish tradition, and another 40% feel that Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about DEI.
We posed a similar question about the relationship between Jewish tradition and the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Half of the respondent panel (51%) believes that, based on Jewish tradition, Jews should oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policy. A quarter (24%) of respondents believe that Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about immigration policy, while another 16% contend that, based on Jewish tradition, Jews ought to support the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Most “strong liberal” (87%) and “leaning liberal” (69%) respondents believe that Jewish tradition would teach one to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policy. In a breakdown by religiosity, most Reform (68%) and half of Conservative (51%) respondents feel this way as well. By contrast, half of “strong conservatives” (51%) believe that Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about the Trump administration’s stated immigration policies.
Most respondents (59%) contend that Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about the Trump administration’s tariff policy (the president is a champion of higher tariffs). Twenty-one percent feel that, based on Jewish tradition, Jews ought to oppose Trump’s tariff policy, while 6% believe that Jews should support that policy. Among “strong liberals,” 42% say that Jews should, on the basis of Jewish tradition, oppose the tariff policy. The further one moves along the ideological spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the percentage of respondents who think Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about Trump’s tariff policy, and the higher the percentage of respondents who think, based on Jewish tradition, Jews should support the Trump administration’s policy. Half or more of those affiliated with religious streams believe that “Jewish tradition has nothing to teach us about the Trump administration’s tariff policy.”
Optimism About the Future
This month we assessed respondent optimism about Israel’s future, the future of the US, and the future of American Jewry. Regarding Israel, the past few months have shown a decline in optimism among the “strong liberal” (-0.7) and “leaning liberal” (-0.4) cohorts. An opposite trend was found among those in the “strong conservative” (0.7) and “leaning conservative” (0.4) cohorts. In a breakdown by religiosity, we see a decline of -0.8 in optimism among Reform Jews.
The past few months have also shown rising pessimism among liberal respondents regarding the future of the US. By contrast, there has been a more significant increase in optimism among conservative respondents. The greatest increase in pessimism was found in the “strong liberal” cohort. In a breakdown by religiosity, pessimism has grown among the Reform, while optimism has increased among Conservative and Orthodox Jews, including the ultra-Orthodox.
The data also points to changes in recent months in panel participants’ degree of optimism regarding the future of American Jewry. While the liberal cohorts have become more pessimistic, the conservatives have shown a significant rise in optimism regarding the future of Jews in the US. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, Reform respondents have grown more pessimistic, while Conservative, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox respondents show a rise in optimism about the future of American Jewry.
Survey Data and Its Implications
This report is an analysis of a survey administered to 661 American Jews registered for JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People respondent panel. Generally, it can be said that the survey tends to reflect the views of “connected” American Jews, that is, Jews with a relatively strong attachment to the Jewish community and/or Israel, and/or to Jewish identity.
