‘Israel animus a pretext for threats and violence against Jews’

Another interesting result, especially ahead of the presidential election, was that notably two-thirds of American Jews (69 percent) and a little more than half of U.S. adults (52 percent) say the Republican Party holds “at least some anti-Semitic views” compared to only 37 percent of American Jews and 42 percent of the general public who say the same about the Democratic Party.

Huffnagle said that while some of this is a result of the fact that a large majority of American Jews support former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, it is also likely a result of where most American Jews think where sources of anti-Semitism in American today are coming from.

According to the survey, nine in 10 (89 percent) American Jews said the extreme political right poses a threat with 49 percent saying it’s a very serious threat.

“The fact that the majority of far-right and white-supremacist voters vote for members of the Republican Party most likely influences the response to the question about anti-Semitic views and the Republican Party,” pointed out Huffnagle.

At the same time, six in 10 (61 percent) American Jews said the extreme political left posed a threat with only 16 percent said it’s a very serious threat. In fact, the fear of Islamic extremism is greater for American Jews than the far-left, with 85 percent saying extremism in the name of Islam was a threat and 27 percent saying it’s a very serious threat.

“I want to emphasize that both Democratic and Republican Jewish voters said anti-Semitism was a problem in the U.S. today, as did American voters (although fewer Republicans (57 percent) versus 71 percent of Democrats).”