InUnited States politics, the trends of Jews have changed political positions multiple times. Many early AmericanGerman-Jewish immigrants to the United States tended to be politicallyconservative, but the wave ofEastern European Jews, starting in the early 1880s, were generally moreliberal orleft-wing, and eventually became the political majority.[1] Many of the latter moved to America having had experience in thesocialist,anarchist, andcommunist movements as well as theLabor Bund emanating from Eastern Europe. Many Jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th centuryAmerican labor movement, and founded unions that played a major role in left-wing politics and, after 1936, inside theDemocratic Party politics.[1] For most of the 20th century since 1936, the vast majority of Jews in the United States have been aligned with the Democratic Party. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the Republican Party has launched initiatives to persuade American Jews to support their political policies, with relatively little success.
Over the past century, Jews in Europe and the Americas have traditionally tended towards thepolitical left, and played key roles in the birth of thelabor movement as well associalism. While Diaspora Jews have also been represented in theconservative side of the political spectrum, even politically conservative Jews in Northern America and Western Europe have tended to supportpluralism, or other positions associated withcosmopolitanism, more consistently than many other elements of thepolitical right in those places.
The divide between right and left correlates to the various religious movements among American Jews. The more socially conservative movements in American Judaism (theOrthodox movement and variousHaredi sects, though not theConservative movement) tend to be politically conservative, while the more socially liberal movements (Conservative,Reform, andReconstructionist) tend to be more politically liberal or left-leaning as well.
There are also a number of Jewish secular organizations at the local, national, and international levels. These organizations often play an important part in the Jewish community. Most of the largest groups, such asHadassah and the United Jewish Communities,[2] have an elected leadership. No one secular group represents the entire Jewish community, and there is often significant internal debate among Jews about the stances these organizations take on affairs dealing with the Jewish community as a whole, such as anti-Semitism and policies regarding Israel.
In the United States and Canada today, the mainly secularUnited Jewish Communities (UJC), formerly known as theUnited Jewish Appeal (UJA), represents over 150Jewish Federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Every major American city has its local "Jewish Federation", and many have sophisticated community centers and provide services, mainly health care-related. They raise record sums of money forphilanthropic andhumanitarian causes in North America and Israel. Other organizations such as theAnti-Defamation League,American Jewish Congress,American Jewish Committee,American Israel Public Affairs Committee,Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel,B'nai B'rith, andAgudath Israel represent different segments of the American Jewish community on a variety of issues.
As of July 2025,Governor of ColoradoJared Polis,Governor of PennsylvaniaJosh Shapiro,Governor of DelawareMatt Meyer,Governor of IllinoisJB Pritzker,Governor of HawaiiJosh Green andGovernor of North CarolinaJosh Stein are Jewish.
With the influx of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe many members of the Jewish community were attracted to labor and socialist movements and numerous Jewish newspapers such asForwerts andMorgen Freiheit had a socialist or communist orientation. Left-wing organizations such as theArbeter Ring and theJewish People's Fraternal Order played an important part in Jewish community life untilWorld War II.
Jewish Americans are involved in many important social movements, being in the forefront of promoting such issues as workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, religious pluralism, peace movements, and various other left-wing and progressive causes.
Jews as small-town businessmen were generally conservative Republicans in the late 19th century, but did not mobilize as a separate political faction. The new Yiddish-speaking arrivals in the early 20th century were much more radical and became highly mobilized in labor unions and parties.[3] In 1920 38% of Jews voted Socialist, and 43% voted Republican.[4] According to Beth Wenger, New Dealer Franklin Roosevelt, "cemented an unbreakable Jewish-Democratic bond.".[5] In 1940 and 1944, 90% of Jews voted forFranklin D. Roosevelt, and 75% voted forHarry S. Truman in 1948. During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more forAdlai Stevenson, whileDwight Eisenhower garnered 40% of their vote for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans sinceHarding's 43% in 1920.[4] In 1960, 83% voted for the Catholic DemocratJohn F. Kennedy. In 1964, 90% of American Jews voted forLyndon Johnson against his Republican opponentBarry Goldwater, who was a Protestant with two Jewish grandparents.[6]Hubert Humphrey garnered 81% of the Jewish vote in the 1968 election, in his losing bid for president againstRichard Nixon.[4]
During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, Jewish voters were relatively apprehensive aboutGeorge McGovern, and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Jewish support for Republicans to 35%. In the election of 1976, Jewish voters supported the DemocratJimmy Carter by 71% over the incumbent presidentGerald Ford's 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, Jewish votes for the Democrat became relatively lower, with 45% support, with Republican election winnerRonald Reagan garnering 39%, and 14% going to the independent candidateJohn Anderson.[4][7]
During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984 he retained 31% of the Jewish vote, while 67% went to the DemocratWalter Mondale. The 1988 election saw Jewish voters favor the DemocratMichael Dukakis by 64%, whileGeorge H W Bush polled at 35%, though during his re-election in 1992 his Jewish support fell to 11%, with 80% voting forBill Clinton and 9% going to the independent candidateRoss Perot. Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high Jewish support at 78%, with 16% supportingRobert Dole and 3% for Perot.[4][7]
The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued Jewish support for DemocratsAl Gore andJohn Kerry remain in the high to mid-70% range. Kerry was Catholic, but had Jewish ancestry. In the2000 presidential election,Joe Lieberman became the first Jewish American to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen to be the vice-presidential nominee to the Democratic presidential candidateAl Gore. RepublicanGeorge W Bush's re-election in 2004 saw Jewish support rise from 19% to 24%.[7][8]
In the2008 presidential election, 78% of Jews voted for the Democratic nomineeBarack Obama, who became the firstAfrican-American to be elected president.[9] Polls indicated that during this election, 83% of white Jews voted for Obama compared to 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of whites identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted for Obama.[10] In the2012 presidential election, 68% of Jews voted for Barack Obama's re-election.[11]
In the 2016 election, 71% of Jews voted for the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over the eventual winner Donald Trump. In a 2018 poll, 71% of American Jews disapproved ofDonald Trump's job as president, with only 26% approving—being the lowest approving religious group among those surveyed.[12]
Of the 2016 and 2020 presidential candidates, many front runners were either married to Jews, had children who were married to Jews, or were Jewish themselves. Presidential candidatesBernie Sanders,Michael Bloomberg, andMarianne Williamson are Jewish.Michael Bennet's mother is Jewish.Beto O'Rourke andKamala Harris are married to Jews. Donald Trump's daughterIvanka converted to Judaism and married the Jewish real estate developerJared Kushner. Both were active in Trump's administration. Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughterChelsea Clinton married the Jewish investorMarc Mezvinsky, the son of U.S. Representative and felonEdward Mezvinsky. Lastly, all three ofJoe Biden's children who lived into adulthood married Jews.[13]
For Congressional and Senate races, since 1968, American Jews have voted about 70–80% for Democrats;[14] this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections.[15] Currently, there are 9 Jews among the 100U.S. Senators: 8 Democrats (Richard Blumenthal,Adam Schiff,Brian Schatz,Chuck Schumer,Ron Wyden,Jacky Rosen,Elissa Slotkin, andJon Ossoff), and one of the Senate's twoindependents (Bernie Sanders, whocaucuses with the Democrats as well).
As of January 2023, there are 33 Jews serving in the118th Congress, a decrease of one from the117th. They constitute 6% of that body's members, three times the 2% of Jews in the general American population.[16]
During the American Civil War, American Jews were divided on their views regarding slavery and abolition. Prior to 1861, there were virtually no rabbinical sermons on slavery. The silence on this issue was probably a result of fear that the controversy would create conflict within the Jewish community due to its relative popularity at the time, though some Jews did come to play a role in the ending of slavery. Some Jews owned slaves or traded them, and the livelihoods of many in the Jewish community of both the North and South were tied to the slave system. Most southern Jews supported slavery, and some, likeJudah P. Benjamin, advocated its expansion. The abolitionist Ben Wade, who knew Benjamin in the U.S. Senate, described him as "an Israelite with Egyptian principles". Northern Jews sympathized with the South, and very few were abolitionists, seeking peace and remaining silent on the subject of slavery. America's largest Jewish community in New York was "overwhelmingly pro-southern, pro-slavery, and anti-Lincoln in the early years of the war". However, eventually, they began to lean politically toward "Father Abraham", his Republican party, and emancipation.[17]
Since the beginning of the 20th century, many American Jews became very active in fighting societal prejudice and discrimination, and have historically been active participants inmovements for civil rights, including active support of and participation in theCivil Rights Movement, active support of and participation in the labor rights movement, and active support of and participation in thewomen's rights movement.
Seymour Siegel suggests that the historic struggle against prejudice faced by Jews led to a natural sympathy for any people confronting discrimination. Joachim Prinz, president of theAmerican Jewish Congress, stated the following when he spoke from the podium at the Lincoln Memorial during the famousMarch on Washington on August 28, 1963: "As Jews, we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a twofold experience - one of the spirit and one of our history ... From our Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years, we say: Our ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages, my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe ... It is for these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black people of America that motivates us. It is, above all and beyond all such sympathies and emotions, a sense of complete identification and solidarity born of our own painful historic experience."[18][19]
American Jews (and Jews worldwide) began taking a special interest in international affairs in the early twentieth century, especially regarding their co-religionists persecution duringpogroms inImperial Russia, and later, regarding increasing restrictions on immigration in the 1920s. This period was also synchronous with the development ofpolitical Zionism, as well as theBalfour Declaration, which gave Zionism its first official recognition.
During the 1930s, large-scale boycotts of German merchandise were organized; this period was synchronous with the rise ofFascism in Europe.Franklin D. Roosevelt's leftist domestic policies received strong Jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his foreign policies and the subsequent founding of theUnited Nations. Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion. The founding ofIsrael in 1948 made theMiddle East a center of attention; the immediate recognition of Israel by the American government was an indication of both its intrinsic support and the influence of political Zionism.
This attention initially was based on a natural and religious affinity toward, and support for, Israel and world Jewry. American Jews strongly campaigned for the rights ofSoviet Jews toimmigrate to Israel and the United States. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding Israel and Zionism itself. A lively internal debate commenced, following theSix-Day War. The American Jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for leftist Jews, between their liberal ideology and (rightist) Zionist backing in the midst of this conflict. This deliberation about the Six-Day War showed the depth and complexity of Jewish responses to the varied events of the 1960s.[20] Similar tensions were aroused by the1977 election ofMenachem Begin and the rise ofrevisionist policies, the1982 Lebanon War, and the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.[21] Disagreement over Israel's 1993 acceptance of theOslo Accords caused a further split among American Jews;[22] This mirrored a similar split among Israelis, and led to a parallel rift within thepro-Israel lobby.[23][24]
Because of the emotional connection many Jews have for Israel, the issue has generated strong passions among both left-wing and right-wing Jews. There is a significant Jewish presence in the disparate political movement known as the "liberal hawks" or thepro-war Left, which, while strongly committed to liberal or leftist social domestic policy, also supports aliberal interventionist,hawkish or right-wing pro-Israelforeign policy for the United States. (Examples includeJoe Lieberman,Christopher Hitchens, many of the contributors toDissent magazine, and many of the signatories of theEuston Manifesto.) There is also a significant Jewish presence in the disparate political movement known as the "neoconservatives", which advocates for a more hawkish approach towards anti-Zionist regimes in the Middle East, one of which culminated in theinvasion of Iraq in 2003. At the same time, there is a significant Jewish presence in the pro-Palestinian movement, includingNorman Finkelstein,Noam Chomsky, andJudith Butler.[25]
The "Israel lobby" is the diverse coalition of groups and individuals seeking to influence theforeign policy of the United States in support of Zionism,Israel or the specific policies of its elected government.[26][27] These organizations have included political,secular, and religious groups ofJewish-Americans, as well as non-Jewish organizations of political, secular, and religiousChristian Americans. These groups have reportedly increased in size and influence over the years. The term itself has been subject to debate and criticism over the years, concerning its clarity and exact definition.
Although Jews are divided in their opinion of Trump's handling of theIsrael–Palestine conflict[28] and Netanyahu's domestic policies,[29] polling data indicates that the vast majority of American Jews continue to support unconditional U.S. financial and military aid to Israel,[30] which is a fixture of the platforms of both major parties,[31][32] while various polling data indicate that most Americans would prefer to decrease or even halt military aid to Israel.[33][34]
According to a 2017 survey,[35] fifty-four percent of Orthodox Jews say they voted for Trump, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee, or AJC. That was well above 24 percent of Conservative Jews, 10 percent of Reform Jews, 8 percent of Reconstructionist Jews and 14 percent of respondents who identify themselves as “just Jewish.”
"Jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor", writesMitchell Bard, who adds that Jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. While 2–2.5% of the United States population is Jewish, 94% live in 13 keyelectoral college states, which combined have enough electors to elect the president.[36][37] Though the majority (60–70%) of the country's Jews identify as Democratic, Jews span the political spectrum, and Helmreich describes them as "a uniquely swayable bloc" as a result of Republican stances onIsrael.[7][37][38] A paper by Dr. Eric Uslaner of the University of Maryland disagrees, at least with regard to the 2004 election: "Only 15% of Jews said that Israel was a key voting issue. Among those voters, 55% voted for Kerry (compared to 83% of Jewish voters not concerned with Israel)." The paper goes on to point out that negative views of Evangelical Christians had a distinctly negative impact for Republicans among Jewish voters, while Orthodox Jews, traditionally more conservative in outlook as to social issues, favored the Republican Party.[39] ANew York Times article suggests that this movement of Jewish voters to the Republican party is focused heavily on faith-based issues, similar to the Catholic vote, which is credited for helping President Bush taking Florida in 2004.[40]
Owing to high Democratic identification in the2008 United States presidential election, 78% of Jews voted for DemocratBarack Obama, versus 21% for RepublicanJohn McCain, despite Republican attempts to connect Obama to Muslim and pro-Palestinian causes.[41] It has been suggested that running mateSarah Palin's outspoken conservative views on social issues may have nudged Jews away from the McCain-Palin ticket.[7][41] Obama's chief strategist,David Axelrod, is Jewish, as is his formerChief of Staff,Rahm Emanuel.[42]
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American Jews are largely supportive ofLGBTQ+ rights, though a split exists within the group by observance.Reform andReconstructionist Jews are far more supportive on issues like gay marriage thanOrthodox Jews are.[43] A 2007 survey ofConservative Jewish leaders and activists showed that an overwhelming majority now supports gay rabbinical ordination and same-sex marriage.[44] Accordingly, 78% percent of Jewish voters rejectedProposition 8, the bill which banned gay marriage in California. No other ethnic or religious group voted as strongly against it.[45]
Jews in America also overwhelmingly oppose currentUnited States marijuana criminalization policy. 86% of Jewish Americans opposed arresting non-violent marijuana smokers, compared to 61% for the population at large and 68% of all Democrats. Additionally, 85% of Jews in the United States opposed using federal law enforcement to close patient cooperatives formedical marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal, compared to 67% of the population at large and 73% of Democrats.[46]
Jewish support for President Barack Obama fell 9 points from 78% in 2008 to 69% in 2012. Obama's opponent in 2008, John McCain, received the support of 21% of Jewish voters, whereas Mitt Romney increased that share by 9 points to 30% in 2012.[47]
In the 2018 midterms, Jews were again the most Democratic group as designated by religious identity, with 79% voting for the Democrats while 17% voted for the Republicans.[48]
| Election year | Candidate of the Democratic Party | % of Jewish vote to the Democratic Party | Result of the Democratic Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | Woodrow Wilson | 55 | Won |
| 1920 | James M. Cox | 19 | Lost |
| 1924 | John W. Davis | 51 | Lost |
| 1928 | Al Smith | 72 | Lost |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 82 | Won |
| 1936 | 85 | Won | |
| 1940 | 90 | Won | |
| 1944 | 90 | Won | |
| 1948 | Harry Truman | 75 | Won |
| 1952 | Adlai Stevenson | 64 | Lost |
| 1956 | 60 | Lost | |
| 1960 | John F. Kennedy | 82 | Won |
| 1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 90 | Won |
| 1968 | Hubert Humphrey | 81 | Lost |
| 1972 | George McGovern | 65 | Lost |
| 1976 | Jimmy Carter | 71 | Won |
| 1980 | 45 | Lost | |
| 1984 | Walter Mondale | 67 | Lost |
| 1988 | Michael Dukakis | 64 | Lost |
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | 80 | Won |
| 1996 | 78 | Won | |
| 2000 | Al Gore | 79 | Lost |
| 2004 | John Kerry | 76 | Lost |
| 2008 | Barack Obama | 78 | Won |
| 2012 | 69 | Won | |
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton | 71[49] | Lost |
| 2020 | Joe Biden | 69[50] | Won |
| 2024 | Kamala Harris | 63 | Lost |
| Election year | Candidate of the Republican Party | % of Jewish vote to the Republican Party | Result of the Republican Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | Charles E. Hughes | 45 | Lost |
| 1920 | Warren G. Harding | 43 | Won |
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge | 27 | Won |
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover | 28 | Won |
| 1932 | 18 | Lost | |
| 1936 | Alf Landon | 15 | Lost |
| 1940 | Wendell Willkie | 10 | Lost |
| 1944 | Thomas Dewey | 10 | Lost |
| 1948 | 10 | Lost | |
| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 36 | Won |
| 1956 | 40 | Won | |
| 1960 | Richard Nixon | 18 | Lost |
| 1964 | Barry Goldwater | 10 | Lost |
| 1968 | Richard Nixon | 17 | Won |
| 1972 | 35 | Won | |
| 1976 | Gerald Ford | 27 | Lost |
| 1980 | Ronald Reagan | 39 | Won |
| 1984 | 31 | Won | |
| 1988 | George H. W. Bush | 35 | Won |
| 1992 | 11 | Lost | |
| 1996 | Bob Dole | 16 | Lost |
| 2000 | George W. Bush | 19 | Won |
| 2004 | 24 | Won | |
| 2008 | John McCain | 22 | Lost |
| 2012 | Mitt Romney | 30 | Lost |
| 2016 | Donald Trump | 24[49] | Won |
| 2020 | 30[50] | Lost | |
| 2024 | 35 | Won |
The 1993 Oslo Agreement made this split in the Jewish community official. Prime MinisterYitzak Rabin's handshake withYasir Arafat during the 13 September White House ceremony elicited dramatically opposed reactions among American Jews. To the liberal universalists, the accord was highly welcome news. As one commentator put it, after a year of tension between Israel and the United States, "there was an audible sigh of relief from American and Jewish liberals. Once again, they could support Israel as good Jews, committed liberals, and loyal Americans." The community "could embrace the Jewish state, without compromising either its liberalism or its patriotism". Hidden deeper in this collective sense of relief was the hope that, following the peace with the Palestinians, Israel would transform itself into a Western-style liberal democracy, featuring a full separation between the state and religion. Not accidentally, many of the leading advocates of Oslo, includingYossi Beilin, the then-Deputy Foreign Minister, cherish the belief that a "normalized" Israel would become less Jewish and more democratic.However, to the hard-core Zionists – the Orthodox community and right-wing Jews – the peace treaty amounted to what some dubbed the "handshake earthquake". From the perspective of the Orthodox, Oslo was not just an affront to the sanctity ofEretz Yisrael, but also a personal threat to theOrthodox settlers – often kin or former congregants – in the West Bank and Gaza. For Jewish nationalists such as Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist organization of America, and Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, the peace treaty amounted to an appeasement of Palestinian terrorism. They and others repeatedly warned that the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) would pose a serious security threat to Israel.
Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked throughAmericans for Peace Now (APN),Israel Policy Forum (IPF), and other groups friendly to the Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American Jewry was behind the Accord, and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian Authority (PA), including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community.Working on the other side of the fence, a host of Orthodox groups, such as ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and theJewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), launched a major public opinion campaign against Oslo. On 10 October 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord, organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel, where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before a "an armed thug", and predicted that the "thirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamy". Hard-core Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Rabin and Shimon Peres, his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national Jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly shrill discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League was forced by the conference to apologize for bad mouthing ZOA's Klein. The Conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attackingColette Avital, the labor-appointed Israel Council General in New York and an ardent supporter of the peace process.
The Palestinian aid effort was certainly not helped by the heated debate that quickly developed inside the Beltway. Not only was the Israeli electorate divided on the Oslo accords, but so, too, was the American Jewish community, particularly at the leadership level and among the major New York and Washington-based public interest groups. U.S. Jews opposed to Oslo teamed up with Israelis "who brought their domestic issues to Washington", and together they pursued a campaign that focused most of its attention on Congress and the aid program. The dynamic was new to Washington. The Administration, the Rabin-Peres government, and some American Jewish groups teamed on one side, while Israeli opposition groups and anti-Oslo American Jewish organizations pulled Congress in the other direction.
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