(JTA) — There may be virtually no chance that Donald Trump could win New York State in the presidential election.
But that’s not stopping his Orthodox Jewish supporters from coming out to show their support.
This Sunday, at least four pro-Trump rallies are being organized in Orthodox Jewish communities across the New York area this Sunday. In the more Modern Orthodox communities in Long Island’s Five Towns, in Brooklyn Marine Park, in Rockland County’s Monsey, and in a number of Brooklyn neighborhoods in a car parade, Orthodox fans of the president are planning a major show of support in the final stretch of the campaign.
While most American Jews are expected to vote for Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, in recent years, a majority of Orthodox Jews have voted for the Republican candidate in recent years. A recent poll conducted by Ami Magazine, which serves a largely Orthodox readership, found that 83% of Orthodox respondents plan to vote for Trump in the upcoming election, with just 13% planning to vote for Biden.
This Sunday’s Trump rallies come after weeks of tensions in Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods over new restrictions imposed on the neighborhoods due to rising COVID-19 cases. At one protest against the restrictions earlier this month, young men carried Trump 2020 flags and signs.
A fan account for Heshy Tischler, a leader of the protests, promoted one of the pro-Trump rallies on Twitter. Other events were promoted in WhatsApp groups that were originally formed to spread information about Tischler and those protests.
At one event in Brooklyn’s Marine Park, Boris Epshteyn, an advisor to the Trump campaign and co-chair of Jewish Voices for Trump, will be speaking alongside Dov Hikind, the former state assemblyman who represented Borough Park for over 30 years. Hikind this week announced that while he did not vote for Trump in 2016, he plans to this year.
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