NEW YORK (JTA) — The majority of American voters do not approve of President Donald Trump’s assertion that U.S. Jews who vote for the Democratic Party are disloyal, a poll found.
The results of the national online survey of 1,987 registered voters showed a split along party lines.
Asked “Do you approve or disapprove of Trump’s statements about Jewish Americans who vote for the Democratic Party either lacking knowledge or great disloyalty?,” 49 percent of respondents said they “strongly disapprove” and 10 percent “somewhat disapprove.” A combined 23 percent either “somewhat approve” or “strongly approve,” while 18 percent “don’t know/have no opinion.”
Most of the 619 Republicans surveyed backed the comments: 27 percent “strongly approve” and 24 percent “somewhat approve.” Only 12 percent said they “strongly disapprove” and 13 percent “somewhat disapprove.” The rest “don’t know/have no opinion.”
Likewise, most voters who approve of the job Trump is doing strongly (26 percent) or somewhat (24 percent) supported the comments.
Nearly none of the 768 Democrats surveyed approved of the comments: 81 percent said that they “strongly disapprove” and 5 percent “somewhat disapprove.”
Though cross-tabulations were not available for American Jews surveyed, the constituency overwhelmingly supports Democratic candidates.
Jewish groups widely condemned the comment made by the president in response to a question at an Aug. 19 news conference about Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., criticizing the Israeli government’s decision to bar them from entering the country.
Trump doubled down on the remarks the following day, saying the disloyalty was to Israel and the Jewish people.
The poll was conducted Aug. 23-25 by Morning Consult for Politico and the results were published Wednesday on Morning Consult. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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