A preliminary exit poll indicates that 79% of Jewish voters supported Kamala Harris in the recent election, defying speculation that a significant number would shift toward the Republican Party.
While early exit polls can be unreliable, they offer an initial look at voting trends and suggest that Jewish support for the Democratic Party remains strong.
Historically, Jewish voters have leaned Democratic, with only 20% to 30% typically supporting Republican candidates. This year, however, some pundits suggested that issues like support for Israel might lead to a larger share of Jewish votes for Donald Trump. But according to the National Election Pool’s preliminary data, 79% of Jewish voters backed Harris, with 21% favoring Trump, reflecting a typical Democratic lean. Edison Research, which conducted the poll, surveyed voters across 10 states, excluding major Jewish population centers like New York and California.
While this data marks a low point in Republican support among Jewish voters in 24 years, it’s important to note that exit polls often adjust their findings to align with actual vote counts. Fox News, known for its reliable polling, conducted a separate analysis showing that 67% of Jews supported Harris, with 31% voting for Trump.
Both polls also gauged Jewish voters' views on U.S. support for Israel. The National Election Pool’s survey found Democrats were more likely to feel U.S. support was too strong, while Republicans mostly felt it wasn’t strong enough. Fox News similarly found that 56% of Trump voters supported ongoing aid to Israel, while a majority of Harris voters opposed it.
In pre-election polls, 68% to 71% of Jewish voters had indicated support for Harris. A separate conservative poll suggested Harris might achieve a smaller margin among Jewish voters than past Democratic candidates, although early data from the National Election Pool shows a margin similar to Hillary Clinton’s in 2016, when she led Trump among Jewish voters by 47 percentage points. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, Wikimedia commons.