US Jews on Trump’s Policies, Israel and the Palestinians, and Issues of Religion and State.
Main Findings
- Half of the respondent panel endorses Trump’s decision to cancel $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University.
- Half of the respondent panel is confident (“a lot” or “somewhat”) that Trump will act against antisemitism.
- One in four Trump voters thinks Israel has won the war, while one in ten Harris voters holds this view.
- Most of the panel does not support Trump’s policy on the Russia-Ukraine war.
- Two-thirds say they feel the administration’s Ukraine policy is making them more concerned about its Israel policy.
- Most of the respondent panel thinks Israeli-Palestinian peace is impossible in the foreseeable future.
- However, in contrast to the view of Jewish Israelis, most respondents feel there is no alternative to long-term peace with the Palestinians.
- Most believe the settlements are a burden on the IDF and deleterious to Israel’s security.
- A large majority of respondents (79%) say they plan to host or attend a traditional Passover seder.
- Most Orthodox respondents have visited Israel in the past two years.
- Nine in ten respondents remain satisfied with their vote in the 2024 presidential elections.
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A general note on the survey period: Data was collected between March 13 and 17. The survey was conducted after the completion of Phase 1 of the hostage/ceasefire deal, in which 33 captives were released amid a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. The fighting in Gaza resumed at Israel’s initiative after the data was collected. The Trump administration confirmed that Israel consulted with the White House before launching the new offensive. While the survey was being compiled, Prime Minister Netanyahu, announced the dismissal of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) director, Ronen Bar. This cluster of events led to a wave of protests across Israel.
A general note on the respondent panel: After more than a year of survey activity and following a detailed data analysis of JPPI’s panel participants – their demographic composition and worldviews – we have begun to include aggregate figures that reflect the position of the panel as an entirety. This signals the maturation of JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People surveys 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 participants, in our view, take on a significance beyond their categorization into sub-groups according to denominational affiliation (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox etc.), or political orientation (liberal, centrist, conservative, etc.).
The group of American Jews whose views are expressed in JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People surveys have a relatively strong connection to Jewish identity, and/or Jewish institutions, and/or Israel. Our interest in this group is due precisely 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 ways functions as the backbone of the large American Jewish community. Our January 2025 report included a methodological appendix that details the composition of the Voice of the Jewish People panel, and past surveys can be viewed on JPPI’s website.
Antisemitism and Academia
Last month, President Donald Trump announced his intention to halt funding to universities that allow protests he characterized as “illegal.” He subsequently announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University due to what he deemed the university’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment during last year’s protests against Israel and the war in Gaza. Panel respondents were asked about their views on this: about half (54%) said they endorse Trump’s decision, a third (35%) said they oppose it, and a tenth said they didn’t know how to feel about it. In a breakdown by political orientation, we see significant differences between the various cohorts: while most “strong liberal” (75%) oppose Trump’s decision, an overwhelming majority of conservatives (“strong conservative” + “leaning conservative”) and most centrists (73%) support the decision. A similar trend can be seen when the results are broken down by religiosity – the further along the religious spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the share of those who feel that canceling the Columbia University grants is the right thing to do. An overwhelming majority of Trump voters on the panel (99%) think the decision is correct, while half of the panel’s Harris voters (55%) oppose it.
About a quarter (28%) of survey respondents report having “a lot” of confidence that Trump will “do the right thing” regarding the fight against antisemitism, another quarter (24%) say they have “little” confidence in Trump on this issue, and 43% say they have no confidence that he will do the right thing regarding the fight against antisemitism. Compared to last month, there has been a decline in the share of respondents who say they have “a lot” of confidence that Trump will do the right thing in this arena. Most conservatives (leaning conservative + strong conservative) report having a lot of confidence in Trump on this issue, while most liberals (strong liberal + leaning liberal) say they have no such confidence. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, most Reform Jews report having no confidence that Trump will do the right thing in fighting antisemitism, while most ultra-Orthodox Jews say they have a lot of confidence in the president on this issue.
The Russia-Ukraine and its Possible Implications for Israel
Last month marked three years since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. While the Biden administration provided Ukraine with various sorts of assistance, in the last few weeks, President Trump announced a freeze on American military aid to Ukraine (which, however, was later renewed) – as part of an effort to pressure Ukraine to accept a compromise that would end the war without a full withdrawal of Russian forces from its territory.
This month, we examined how the respondent panel views Trump’s policy on the Russia-Ukraine war. Most respondents (74%) do not endorse the president’s policy on this issue, while a fifth (17%) say that they do support his policy. The vast majority of liberals (strong liberal + leaning liberal) do not support Trump’s policy and most of those in the centrist cohort and half of those in the leaning conservative cohort also don’t support it. Only the strong conservative cohort has a majority (58%) endorsing Trump’s policy on the Russia-Ukraine war. In a breakdown by voting pattern, an overwhelming majority (96%) of Harris voters and a quarter (28%) of Trump voters oppose the policy line taken by Trump, while half of Trump voters (49%) support his policy.
Two-thirds (63%) of the respondent panel say that US policy on Ukraine is causing them to be “more concerned” about US policy on Israel, and a third (30%) say this policy is not causing them to be more concerned about US policy vis-à-vis Israel. Most liberals (strong liberal and leaning liberal), most centrists, and nearly half of those in the leaning conservative cohort report that US policy on Ukraine is making them more concerned about US policy regarding Israel. Although the question did not specify the cause of concern, we can reasonably assume that it stems from the fact that the current US administration chose: 1) a policy line entailing compromise at the expense of the party under attack; 2) to shift from a policy of clear support for the party under attack; 3) to exert strong pressure on the side that had been unequivocally supported by the US; 4) to show a willingness to engage in dialogue with the aggressor (Russia).
However, most strong conservative respondents say the Trump administration’s Ukraine policy is not causing them concern regarding its Israel policy. A similar trend was found in a breakdown by religiosity – the further along the religious spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the share of respondents who say that US policy on Ukraine is not causing them concern about US policy regarding Israel. In a breakdown by voting pattern, most Trump voters (59%) report that the administration’s policy toward Israel is not cause for concern, while most Harris voters say that it is.
Unconnected to the war in Ukraine, a quarter (27%) of all respondents report having a lot of confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding US-Israel relations. Thirty – eight percent say they have no confidence that Trump will do the right thing in this arena, and a third (32%) say they have some confidence that the US president will do the right thing regarding relations between the two countries. Compared to last month, there was a slight drop in the percentage of respondents reporting that they have “a lot of confidence” that Trump will do the right thing on this issue (last month, 32% responded this way, while the figure was 28% this month). In a breakdown by voting pattern, 73% of Trump voters say they have a lot of confidence that Trump will do the right thing regarding US-Israel relations, while a quarter of them say they have some confidence in him in this regard. Fifty-nine percent of Harris voters report having no confidence in Trump on this issue, while a third (32%) say they have some confidence that the president will do the right thing regarding relations between the countries.
As in many past Voice of the Jewish People surveys, this month we looked at how the respondent panel perceives US support for Israel. The gap in findings compared to last month is substantial but quite similar to that of earlier months. There may have been a short- term reaction to the change of US administrations, or some other reason for last month’s anomalous finding. In any case, 46% believe the US supports Israel enough, a third (34%) believe the US does not support Israel enough, and an eighth (13%) believe the US supports Israel too much. This constitutes a decline in the share of respondents who say the US supports Israel enough over last month when most panel participants (57%) thought the US supports Israel enough, and a fifth (18%) thought that it does not support Israel enough. It should be noted that despite the deviation from last month, March 2025 is only the second month since the start of data collection without a majority of conservative and centrist respondents who think the US does not support Israel enough.
After the stormy start of the Trump presidency, nine in ten participants are satisfied with their vote in the 2024 presidential elections, while one in ten is unsure. The vast majority of strong liberals (98%), strong conservatives (95%), and those in the leaning liberal cohort (92%) are satisfied with their choice in the November elections. The centrist (81%) and leaning conservative (79%) cohorts report lower satisfaction with their vote. In both, one in five respondents are uncertain whether they are satisfied with their vote. In a breakdown by voting pattern, an overwhelming majority of Harris voters (95%) remain satisfied with their vote. Trump voters show lower confidence levels: 85% of them say they remain satisfied with their choice, while an eighth (14%) are unsure about it.
Israel at War
Most participants (55%) think Israel has neither won nor lost the war, 16% think it is too early to tell, 15% think Israel has won the war, and a tenth (11%) think Israel has lost the war. The further along the political spectrum from liberal to conservative, the higher the percentage of respondents who say that Israel has won the war – a third of strong conservatives think Israel has won, while less than a tenth of liberals feel this way. One in four Trump voters maintain that Israel has won the war, while one in ten Harris voters holds this view.
Relations with the Palestinians
This month, we posed questions about Israel’s relations with the Palestinians – questions that were asked exactly a year ago and were also posed in JPPI’s Israeli Society Index survey. The data indicates that, like Israeli Jews, nearly half of the respondent panels do not think Israeli-Palestinian peace is possible in the foreseeable future. US Jews are slightly more optimistic than Israeli Jews – while 70% of the latter strongly agree with the statement, “There is no chance of a peace agreement with the Palestinians in the foreseeable future,” 48% of American Jews do so.
Broken down by political orientation, a majority in all cohorts agree (strongly agree + somewhat agree) with the statement, “There is no chance of a peace agreement with the Palestinians in the foreseeable future.” Compared to this point last year, there has been a decline in the share of conservatives who say they strongly agree with this statement; while most of them have not changed their opinion, a small number have softened their stance and now report that they “somewhat agree” rather than “strongly agree” with the statement. Nine in ten Trump voters and 56% of Harris voters agree with the statement.
A significant gap between the views of Israeli Jews and the American Jews represented on the Voice of the Jewish People panel emerges when respondents were asked about the need to find a long- term peace solution. Israeli Jews express reservations about the aspiration to a “long-term peace settlement with the Palestinians,” while American Jews show a broad consensus that there is no substitute for such a settlement.
Most in the liberal and centrist cohorts agree with the statement “Ultimately, there is no substitute for a long- term peace settlement with the Palestinians.” No uniform view prevails in the leaning conservative camp, while most strong conservatives disagree with the statement (somewhat disagree + strongly disagree). The view of strong conservative Jews in the US is similar to that of Jews in Israel. In a breakdown by voting pattern, most Harris voters (82%) agree that there is no substitute for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, while most Trump voters (58%) do not agree with this view.
This month, a year after our previous assessment of the issue, we also looked at two statements pertaining to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. One statement reflects the view that “the settlements are a burden,” while the other reflects the view that “the settlements are an asset.” When placed side by side, we obtain a very similar pattern of agreement and opposition to each of them. As is evident, on this issue American Jews differ significantly from Israeli Jews. While most Israeli Jews (58%) agree with the statement that the settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) create deterrence and contribute to the security of all Israeli citizens, less than half of American Jews (43%) feel this way.
Most conservatives and most centrists agree (strongly agree + somewhat agree) with the statement “Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) create deterrence and contribute to the security of all Israeli citizens.” By contrast, most liberals disagree (strongly disagree + somewhat disagree) with the statement. Compared to this point last year, there has been a rise in the percentage of conservatives and centrists who strongly agree that the West Bank settlements contribute to security. At the same time, there has been a rise in the strong liberal cohort of those who strongly disagree with this statement. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, most ultra-Orthodox (79%) and Modern Orthodox (53%) Jews strongly agree with the statement. A majority of Reform Jews (54%) and half of Conservative Jews (49%) disagree with the statement. Most Trump voters (82%) agree (strongly agree + somewhat agree) while most Harris voters (67%) do not agree with the statement.
A question on the same topic that presents the opposite view – namely, that the West Bank settlements are a “burden”– revealed the same gaps in outlook between American and Israeli Jews. Most US Jews (57%) agree with the statement, “Settlements in the West Bank are a burden on the IDF and harm the security of all Israeli citizens.” By contrast, a majority of Israeli Jews (56%) disagree with this statement.
This question yields a mirror image of responses to the previous question: Most liberals agree with the statement “Settlements in the West Bank territories are a burden on the IDF and harm the security of all Israeli citizens.” By contrast, most conservatives and centrists disagree with the statement. Compared to this point a year ago, there has been an 11% increase in the share of strong liberals who strongly agree with the statement and an 11% rise in those in the leaning liberal cohort who somewhat agree with it. Further, there has been a 10% increase in the share of centrists who strongly disagree with the statement. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, most Reform (71%) and Conservative (69%) Jews agree with the view that the West Bank settlements are a “burden.” In comparison, most Modern Orthodox (70%) and ultra-Orthodox (85%) Jews disagree with this view.
Visits to Israel
A fifth of the respondent panel (18%) has visited Israel in the past year, a tenth (10%) in the past two years, and an eighth (13%) in the past five years; a fifth (19%) last visited Israel five to ten years ago, another fifth (22%) more than a decade ago, and a fifth (19%) has never visited Israel. In a breakdown by political orientation, the leaning conservative and centrist cohorts showed the highest percentage of those who have visited Israel in the past two years. The two cohorts with the lowest percentage who have visited Israel during this period are the ones at the extremes – strong liberals and strong conservatives. These cohorts also include the highest share of respondents who have never visited Israel – a quarter of strong liberals and strong conservatives have never been to the country.
In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, the Modern Orthodox cohort includes the highest percentage of those who have visited Israel in the past two years – over half have been to Israel in the past two years, 40% in the past year, and 17% two years ago. The ultra-Orthodox cohort includes the next-highest share of those who have visited Israel in the past two years (36%), followed by the Conservative (28%) and Reform Jews (17%). In this breakdown, the cohort with the highest share of respondents who have never visited Israel is the Reform (28%), followed by the ultra-Orthodox (21%).
Passover, Religion, and Faith
Most respondents (79%) plan to host or participate in a traditional Passover seder this year. Less than 10% say they plan to host or participate in a festive meal with few or no traditional elements, or that they have no plans to host or take part in a special Passover event. An eighth (12%) still don’t know what they will do on the upcoming holiday.
In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, a majority in all cohorts plan to conduct or participate in a traditional Passover seder this year – 73% of Reform Jews, 85% of Conservatives, 97% of Modern Orthodox Jews, and 93% of the ultra-Orthodox gave this response. A breakdown by political ideology also shows a majority of over 70% across cohorts who plan to host or participate in a traditional Passover seder.
As the Pew Research Center published its recent findings on religiosity in the US, we also looked this month at how the Jews on the JPPI panel understand the development of human life on earth. The question we posed was identical to the one asked by the Pew researchers. The responses given JPPI’s panel reflect its distinctive characteristics compared to the American Jewish population as a whole. This panel is more conservative and more traditional than American Jewry overall. Thirty-five percent of JPPI’s respondent panel believes that humans emerged on earth without the involvement of a higher power (64% of Jews queried by Pew responded this way).1 Forty-five percent of JPPI’s respondent panel believes that evolutionary processes guided by God or a higher power led to the development of humankind (Pew: 23%).2 Less than 10% of JPPI’s respondent panel believes that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time (Pew: 10%), and 14% said they don’t know (Pew: 3% did not respond).
While most in the strong liberal cohort (58%) believe that a higher power or God was not involved in the human evolutionary process, most conservatives and centrists believe that humans have evolved due to processes guided or allowed by God or a higher power. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, a majority in all groups except the Reform believes that evolution is a process in which a higher power or God is involved. A third of the Reform (30%) feel this way as well, while half believe that evolution is a process in which God or a higher power is not involved. The ultra-Orthodox showed the highest percentage of those who believe that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time – 36% of them hold this view.
We also looked at the impact of religion on American society.5 A third of the respondent panel (37%) thinks religion does an equal amount of good and harm to American society, a figure identical to the percentage of Jews who responded this way in the Pew survey. A third (36%) maintain that it does more good than harm (versus 32% of Jews in the Pew survey), a fifth (20%) think religion does more harm than good (30% of Jews in the Pew survey). Most ideologically conservative respondents think religion does more good than harm to American society. Thirty-nine percent of centrists, a fifth of the leaning liberal cohort (21%), and a tenth of strong liberals (10%) hold this view as well. By contrast, a third of strong liberals (37%) and a quarter of leaning liberals (24%) think religion causes American society more harm than good. In a breakdown by denominational affiliation, most ultra-Orthodox (71%) and Modern Orthodox (63%) think religion does more good than harm. Thirty-eight percent of Conservative and a fifth (20%) of Reform respondents think this as well. Half of the Reform respondents (48%), a third of Conservatives (33%), and a fifth each of the Modern Orthodox (20%) and the ultra-Orthodox (21%) think religion does an equal amount of good and harm. A quarter of the Reform cohort (25%) believes that religion causes more harm than good.
Survey Data and Its Implications
This report is an analysis of a survey administered to 557 American Jews registered for JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People respondent panel. An appendix giving an overall picture of the panel’s composition, its characteristics, and the differences between it and American Jews surveyed by other organizations can be found in the January 2025 survey on the JPPI website.
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.
The table opposite includes data on the March 2025 survey participants.
