With Passover poised to begin Wednesday at sundown, a new poll shows a majority of American Jews oppose the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, even as 90% of them say they oppose the Iranian regime.
The poll, commissioned by J Street, the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group, found that 60% of U.S. Jews oppose the war and 77% do not believe “President [Donald] Trump has a clear plan and mission for the war.”
Another poll of U.S. Jews, by the Jewish Electorate Institute, released Monday, showed similar results, with 55% of American Jews opposing military action against Iran. The two polls show that Jewish attitudes against the war are comparable to the opposition among all Americans (58% opposition in the Fox News poll conducted March 20-23).
The poll suggests a growing rift between U.S. Jews and Israeli Jews who have thus far supported the Iran war.
“This data is a wake-up call for anyone claiming to speak for the American Jewish community while beating the drums of war,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement. “Most American Jews see this war for what it is: a reckless, unforced error by a president who has no clear, achievable goals or an exit strategy.”
The poll results come just before the Passover holiday, which celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. This is the third year in which the holiday of freedom is celebrated during a time when Israelis — and now the U.S. — are engaged in war.
Orthodox Jews were the only group that supported the war in Iran, but they form a small fraction (about 9%) of the U.S. Jewish population.
The J Street poll, conducted by GBAO Strategies, was taken March 24-26 among 800 registered Jewish voters and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
It shows a U.S. Jewish population in transition in its views of Israel. The poll found that 70% of American Jews oppose unconditional military and financial assistance to Israel. That 70% percent was broken into two categories: 26% said the U.S. should stop providing aid to Israel and 44% said the U.S. should condition military and financial assistance to Israel by requiring Israel to comply with U.S. law.
Younger Jews were particularly opposed to U.S. military aid to Israel. Among U.S. Jews under 35 years old, 51% favored stopping all aid to Israel, the poll found, a profound generational change.
“The younger you get, the less you are for unconditional aid,” said Jim Gerstein, the founding principal at GBAO.
By a 26-point margin, U.S. Jews told pollsters they believe the most effective way to address concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program is through diplomacy and sanctions (63%) rather than military action (37%).
U.S. Jews, about 70% of whom vote Democratic, hold negative views of Trump and also Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latest poll shows those negative views have not lessened.
Some 73% said they viewed Trump unfavorably, and 66% view Netanyahu unfavorably.
Israeli Jews have polar opposite opinions about the war. According to a poll from Israel Democracy Institute, 68% of Israelis say they support the continuation of the Iran war, though that is down from 81% at the outset of the conflict, more than a month ago.