The survey by The Mellman Group released on Wednesday, revealed that the vast majority of Jews living in the US said that Trump’s pro-Israel policy would not make them to vote for him.
The poll reflects a wide divergence from national trends in the US. A recent Gallup poll found that 47 percent of Americans identify as Democrats while 44 percent identify as Republicans.
The Times of Israel reported that while some American Jews said they approved of Trump’s “good relations” with the Jewish state, they still intensely disliked the president and his party.
The Mellman poll indeed found widespread American Jewish dislike for Trump, as the survey found that only 6 percent said they would vote for him.
Israel nonetheless receives massive funding from the United States thanks to Trump. In August the US Senate passed a bill providing Israel with $3.3 billion in military aid along with over $500 million for missile defense over the course of the next year.
This startling figure — which translates into $23 000 for every Israeli family — seems to be on the increase given Congress’ recent passage of a $716 billion defense bill.
The defense bill also authorises an additional $1 billion for US weapons stockpiles in Israel. The additional funds were apportioned to Israel to “maintain its qualitative military edge”. The funding is the result of a $38 billion memorandum of understanding signed between Israel and the US.
US military aid to Israel has ballooned, with US funding of Israeli missile defense alone quadrupling since 2009.
But the funding has not created any goodwill for Trump. While 20 percent of respondents said they agreed with Trump’s pro-Israel stance, they would never vote for him, they said.
Instead, some 75 percent of American Jews said they would for Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, while sixty-eight percent said they identified with the Democratic Party.
The report surveyed 800 voters online from October 2 to October 11 nationally, reflecting the 2018 Jewish electorate. It was conducted on behalf of the Jewish Electorate Institute.
The American Jewish Committee’s 2017 survey of Jewish opinion from in September of that year, found that 77 percent of American Jews had an unfavorable view of the president.
It shows a dislike for Republicans and their president which has remained more a less unchanged despite Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the embassy there, as well as withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal.
