Jewish voters are extremely motivated and anxious about American democracy

(RNS) — A nationwide survey by the Jewish Citizens Institute finds that Jewish voters are extremely motivated to go to the polls in November, with considerations over the way forward for democracy and abortion as the highest points driving their decisions.

In line with decades-long patterns, the ballot, based mostly on on-line interviews with 800 Jewish registered voters performed Aug. 25 to Sept. 1 by GBAO Methods, reveals that Jewish voters lean overwhelmingly towards the Democratic Social gathering. The ballot discovered 70% of Jewish voters stated they deliberate to vote for Democratic candidates and 24% plan to vote for Republican candidates. (5 p.c had been undecided.)

The Jewish Citizens Institute describes itself as unbiased and nonpartisan.

Disapproval of the U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling in Dobbs vs. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, which overturned the precise to abortion, was resounding: 82% of Jewish registered voters disapproved, and 56% stated the choice provides to their motivation to vote.

Jim Gerstein, founding accomplice of GBAO Methods, stated Democrats have elevated their power amongst Jewish voters by 10% since its final ballot in April, largely pushed by the abortion difficulty. (The court docket issued the ruling in June.)

“Abortion has fully reworked the 2022 midterm elections,” he stated in a press briefing. “The Jewish vote shouldn’t be resistant to that.”

RELATED: Blowing shofars, Jewish lawmakers, rabbis hold abortion rights ‘sho-test’

American Jews have turn into particularly vocal on abortion. On Wednesday (Sept. 14), activists, rabbis and members of Congress stood exterior the U.S. Capitol and blew the shofar or ram’s horn to proclaim their help for abortion rights. On Tuesday, Jewish abortion rights activists met with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, who’s Jewish, to argue that numerous state-level abortion bans violate the non secular freedom of many U.S. Jews.

Judaism broadly teaches that abortion shouldn’t be solely permitted, however generally required when the lifetime of the pregnant particular person is in danger.

However whereas abortion is a driving difficulty, particularly amongst youthful Jews, the menace to democracy gave the impression to be a fair bigger impetus to vote. The ballot discovered 74% of Jewish voters watched the Jan. 6 committee hearings on TV, with 39% saying they watched them “very intently.” The hearings motivated 57% of them to vote, the ballot stated.

The menace to democracy was not as large a difficulty amongst voters of all faiths and none, in response to an NBC News poll from August, which confirmed solely 29% of registered voters calling threats to democracy an important difficulty dealing with the nation.

“The Jan. 6 difficulty is driving Jewish voters way more so than the final inhabitants,” Gerstein agreed.

“Subject Priorities” Graphic courtesy of the Jewish Citizens Institute

Maybe not surprisingly, 79% of Jews had an unfavorable opinion of former President Donald Trump, with 19% approving of him.

“As lengthy as you see these ranges of unfavorability amongst Jewish voters towards the Republican Social gathering and its management,” Gerstein stated, “they aren’t going to make inroads with the Jewish vote. To ensure that that to vary, there would should be vital adjustments within the Republican Social gathering’s positions, model and picture.”

In different findings, the ballot confirmed near-unanimous help for gun security measures, with 96% of Jewish voters supporting complete background checks for gun purchases and 91% supporting elevating the minimal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21.

It additionally confirmed that 92% of Jewish voters are involved about antisemitism and by a 50%-20% margin, they belief Democrats greater than Republicans to battle it.

Some 68% of Jewish voters additionally favor reentering the Iran nuclear deal.

The survey’s margin of error fee was plus or minus 3.5 share factors.

RELATED: Second gentleman meets with Jewish abortion rights activists at White House