Does the Democratic Party Risk Losing the Jewish Vote in PA?
Why do so many younger Democrats have a problem with Israel?
It has reached a crescendo since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200, with more than 250 being taken hostage.
It’s clear that Democrats have a growing cancer in their body politic, and they need to excise it soon, perhaps in the coming run-up to the 2028 national election if they are to be deserving of staying in the mainstream of our politics.
As the GOP has even more officially embraced Israel under the Trump administration, snagging a larger share of the Jewish vote in the process, Democrats have developed a nasty and growing problem: many of their younger voters, especially in cities, display a growing disdain for Israel and Jews that increasingly smacks of rank anti-Semitism.
A March poll by Pew Research showed that about 70% of Democrats now hold an unfavorable view toward Israel. As the report noted, “Democrats are much more likely to express unfavorable opinions of Israel than Republicans (69% vs. 37%).”
How many times in the spring and summer of 2024 did we see Keffiyeh-clad Ivy League college students – including at Penn – engaging in often-violent campus protests about the war in Israel, blaming Jews exclusively for all the problems and strife there?
The protests and violence got so out of hand that it became a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign and is now a focus of Team Trump … with strong public support. Several Ivy League colleges – given their role as incubators of such organized hatred – received and bowed to Trump administration ultimatums to clean up their act.
As Naomi Schaefer Riley and James Piereson wrote in City Journal, “The federal government has some ‘legitimate concerns,’ said Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong … after the Trump administration announced the withdrawal of $400 million in federal grants because, it claimed, Columbia had not addressed rampant anti-Semitism on its campus. Armstrong’s words suggest that Columbia received the message. But have other institutions of higher education?”
And the Democratic candidate who’s now all the rage – and certainly relishing his 15-minutes in the spotlight – New York Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, refuses to repudiate his 2020 state assembly campaign slogan: Globalize the Intifada. (According to the American Jewish Committee, this is “a phrase used by pro-Palestinian activists that calls for aggressive resistance against Israel and those who support Israel. The most prominent expressions of intifada have been through violence so this phrase is often understood by those saying and hearing it as encouraging violence against Israelis, Jews, and institutions supporting Israel.”)
Mamdani obviously believed – accurately as it turned out – that leaning into that outrageous statement would help his race for New York City mayor, which he won handily. He surprised so many last month because he greatly increased the number of 35-year-old plus Democratic primary voters. The second-place finisher there, disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, performed best in the city’s Orthodox Jewish precincts.
The only locale in the world with more Jews than Israel is New York City.
A new national poll from YouGuv shows Mamdani’s overall favorable rating at just 22%.
Of note, here in Pennsylvania, both our statewide elected Democrats, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro, are strong supporters of Israel.
Here in Pennsylvania, there are about 300,000 Jewish voters in the state. Given there are 8.5 million voters in Pennsylvania, that means Jews make up about 3.5% of the state ‘svoters.
Last week the National Education Association (NEA), the national affiliate of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the state, voted to “sever ties with the civil rights group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) over the war in Gaza,” according to Axios. So the NEA/PSEA would no longer use ADL materials tracking the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the country nor use their materials in teaching about the Holocaust – which is suggested in Pennsylvania, but not mandated.
An ADL spokesperson said, “With antisemitism at record high levels, it is profoundly disturbing that a group of NEA activists would brazenly attempt to further isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical, antisemitic agenda on students.”
It’s worth noting that politically the NEA/PSEA are essentially offshoots of the Democratic Party, and their dues monies, campaign contributions and Independent Expenditure dollars go overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates.
Our always-newsy senior Senator’s strong and vocal support of Israel has been key to his falling standing among his fellow Democrats, according to published polls that show Fetterman now with better ratings among Republicans. Meanwhile, Shapiro, just as vocal but not as blunt in his support of Israel and himself an observant Jew, has not seen his standing fall among Democrats. For Shapiro it even became fodder in the controversy over Kamala Harris failing to choose him as her running mate.
What must Shapiro think about the NEA’s stiff-arm of the ADL?
It’s just another sign of the fracturing alliance between Jewish voters as younger Democrats clamor for an even bigger seat at the table – at the expense of jettisoning a very loyal voting bloc.
