National
American Jewish voters remained a strongly progressive and liberal constituency in the face of the Republican wave. As in Pennsylvania and Illinois’ Ninth Congressional District, Jewish voters remained strongly supportive of President Obama and the Democratic Party.
- Despite the political environment, Republicans and conservatives have no traction with American Jews. The Republican Party’s favorability is 21 percent nationally and the Tea Party movement is at 19 percent nationally.
- American Jews seek active U.S. leadership to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Large majorities of Jews (83 percent) want America to play “an active role in helping the parties to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict,” support active US leadership if it meant public disagreements with (71 percent support) or exerting pressure on Israelis and Arabs to achieve the compromises required for a peace agreement (65 percent support).
- 79% of American Jews support a two-state solution. This support cuts across partisan and denominational divides, and has remained steady since we first asked the question over two years ago.
- Most American Jews seek some form of settlement freeze in the West Bank. 31 percent of Jews think Israel should build without restrictions — but a large majority think Israel should temporarily extend the partial suspension of new construction (45 percent) or suspend all new construction (24 percent).
- Jews think the U.S. should be an impartial broker in order to achieve peace. 50 percent of American Jews think the US should serve as a “fair and impartial” broker, compared to 35 percent that think the U.S. should “side with Israel” during negotiations to protect “America’s democratic ally.”