Jewish voters traditionally have been among the most fervent supporters of Democrat presidential candidates, but a new poll shows former President Donald Trump has a 9-point lead over Joe Biden among Jews in New York state, which has the nation's largest Jewish population.
The poll by Siena College released Tuesday showed Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, with a 53%-44% lead over Biden among New York's Jewish voters in a two-way race and a 46%-38% lead in a four-way race with independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West. The poll surveyed 806 registered voters in New York, 8% of whom were Jewish, from Feb. 12-14, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
The poll results are quite remarkable given Trump's poor standing among Jewish voters nationwide in each of his presidential campaigns. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 71% of the Jewish vote to Trump's 24%, and in 2020, Biden won 68% to Trump's 30% according to the Jewish Virtual Library, which showed the last time a Republican presidential candidate won the Jewish vote was Warren Harding in 1920.
The switch to Trump could be attributed to an explosive rise in antisemitism since Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists attacked in southern Israel on Oct. 7, and the Biden administration's sometimes hostile relations toward Israel, especially on defending itself in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Plus, a Harvard/Harris nationwide poll in January found that by a 4-to-1 ratio (80%-20%), Americans supported Israel in its war against Hamas.
The Siena poll also showed Trump narrowing the gap with Biden among all voters in New York to 12 percentage points (48%-36%) in a two-way race and 10 percentage points (42%-32%) in a four-way race. Trump lost New York by 23 points (60.8%-37.7%) in 2020 and 22.6 points in (59.4%-36.8%) in 2016.
"While Biden holds a 12-point lead over Trump in a head-to-head matchup and leads by 10 points in a four-way race, it's worth remembering just how 'blue' New York is," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a news release. "Democrats have a 27-point enrollment advantage over Republicans, Biden beat Trump by 23 points in 2020, and no Republican presidential candidate has carried the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984, 40 years ago."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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