Orthodox Judaism Unpopular Among Democrats: Poll

Trump voters viewed Orthodox Judaism more favorably than Biden voters by 20 percentage points, according to the poll.

Naftoli Goldgrab/Agudath Israel of America
A billboard is part of a campaign by knowus.org to highlight New York's orthodox Jewish community. Naftoli Goldgrab/Agudath Israel of America

Democrats now have a net negative view of Orthodox Judaism, according to a recent poll from YouGov.

Conducted in November, the poll surveyed the favorability of various religious denominations among a group of 1,000 Americans. While Democrats had a net positive view of Judaism by 9 percentage points, the poll found their view of Orthodox Judaism tilted unfavorably by 3 points.

The net results are tallied up by subtracting the percentage of those who approve from those who disapprove — so more Democrats have a negative view of Orthodox Judaism than have a positive view.

The three percentage points were within the 3.4 point margin of error for the poll, but still reflect a lower estimation of Judaism and Orthodox Judaism in the eyes of Democrats than in those of Republicans.

Republicans had a more favorable view of Judaism — 23 percent net favorability, compared to just 9 percent from Democrats — and a net favorable view of Orthodoxy by 13 percentage points, much higher than Democrats’ negative view.

The difference of opinion on Orthodox Jews was even more pronounced between voters who supported President Trump and those who supported President Biden — a nearly 20-point gap. Biden voters had a net dislike of Orthodox Judaism by about 7 percent, whereas among Trump voters there was a net favorability of 17 points.

“All Americans should be concerned about the fact that, as evidenced by this poll, religious minorities are seen as ‘less than’ by other Americans,” an organization representing orthodox interests, the Agudath Israel of America, said in a statement.

“With antisemitic hate crimes on the rise, enhancing understanding about Orthodox Jews is a priority for Agudath Israel, which is why it recently launched the KnowUs.org initiative, to combat the negative portrayals of Orthodox Jews by the mainstream media,” the statement added.

The poll did not dig into the reasons behind the split view of Orthodox Jews.

Overall, however, religious Americans were more likely to look positively upon traditional Western religions and their denominations in the YouGov poll. Orthodox Judaism had a net approval rating of 21 percent among religious Americans, and a net disapproval rating by 19 percent among secular Americans. 

The poll sorted this by asking respondents how important religion is to them. In polls where similar questions have been asked, Democrats on average rank religion as less important to them than Republicans.

Liberals have also found themselves at odds with traditional religious groups on a number of issues over the past decade, among them religious liberties, abortion, and education rights. There is also the issue of increasing distance between Democrats and the state of Israel.

A May poll from the Brookings Institute found that about a third of Democrats support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state. A Pew survey last March found Democrats had a more favorable view of the Palestinian government than the Israeli government.


The New York Sun

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