Polls show Trump is doing at least as well generic Republican presidential candidates despite the onslaught of the JewE (the Jewish Establishment).
Jonathan Chait highlights the fact that Jewish neoconservatives were quick to jump off the Trump wagon. “Trump has struck at the heart of Jewish neoconservatism at a level deeper than mere doctrine,” he writes. But as the latest Gallup poll shows, the percentage of Jews who still have a positive outlook on Trump is not insignificant: 23% (compared to 52% for Clinton). According to Gallup, “Jewish views are by no means monolithic. A little more than half have a favorable view of Clinton, and nearly a fourth have a favorable view of Trump.” Last week, a survey in Florida showed Clinton leading Trump among Jews in the Sunshine State 66% to 23%.
Are you impressed by this number? The Forward used words such as “sweeping” and “landslide” in its story about the survey. Tablet Magazine used the word “whopping” in its headline. The Times of Israel wrote “crushing.” But I think that the NY Jewish Week’s more measured headline – Change Vote? Not for Jews in Sunshine State – is the better one. In fact, I might go even further and put a headline such as: Trump hasn’t lost the Jewish vote.
In other words: the fact that Clinton leads over Trump is hardly a surprise. When Jewish party identification tilts so heavily toward the Democratic Party, you would not expect it to be any other way. If there is a surprise in the two latest Jewish poll numbers, it is that Trump, with all of his problems, still has a chance to collect as many Jewish votes as Mitt Romney collected four years ago, and more votes than John McCain received eight years ago. That is to say: Many “neocons” are GOP Jews – but many GOP Jews are not neocons.
