Former President Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP ticket could win a record share of Jewish voters in November, his strategists say — and even some Democratic pols agree.
Growing Jewish support for Republicans is being fueled by the voters’ disgust over rising antisemitism and hard-left Democrats’ hostility toward Israel, said Trump’s camp and some politicians.
“President Trump has a chance to get the largest share of the Jewish vote ever,” Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin told The Post.
“Antisemitism is a real issue.”
Historically, Democrats running for the White House receive roughly 70% or more of the Jewish vote and Republicans 30% or less.
Republican former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower had the best showing among Jewish voters — and the pair only captured about 40% of the vote apiece.
McLaughlin predicted an increase in Jewish support for Trump this year in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. He said the boost also would help candidates in down-ballot races — as well House contests in six swing seats in New York suburbs that are home to some of the largest Jewish neighborhoods in the country.
Even a small shift in the votes could influence the Electoral College, since President Biden won those states over Trump by 3% or less in 2020.
Jewish voters have taken notice that some Democrats have gone soft on Israel-bashing, said former Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish and was the 2022 Republican candidate for governor in New York.
“There’s so much hedging and equivocating about Israel in the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party has allowed its pro-Hamas wing to metastasize,” said Zeldin, a Trump surrogate.
The fury of Jewish voters and activists already proved pivotal in Democratic primary elections in recent months — helping to oust New York anti-Israel “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the 16th House district taking in leafy Westchester and parts of The Bronx, as well as fellow lefty Rep. Cori Bush last week in Missouri.
A recent poll conducted for the Teach Coalition found that Jews are more motivated to vote in Pennsylvania and six New York battleground House districts because of rising antisemitism and the raging Israel-Hamas war.
Trump was pulling support from 43% of Jewish voters in the Keystone State in the fresh Teach Coalition survey.
There are more than 300,000 potential Jewish voters in both Pennsylvania and the six swing House districts in New York combined. The up-in-the-air New York districts are 1 and 4 on Long Island, 17, 18, 19 in Westchester and Rockland counties and the Hudson Valley and 22 in the Syracuse region.
Trump won the support of 37% of Jewish voters in those New York districts compared to 61% for Dem foe Vice President Kamala Harris, the Teach Coalition survey said.
Still, sources say polling Jewish voters is tricky. Many ultra-orthodox Jewish voters don’t consent to phone interviews, and some seek guidance from their rabbi before voting.
But lawmakers from both parties predicted Jewish voters in southern Brooklyn — home to ultra-orthodox and refugees from the former Soviet Union — will flock to the GOP in even greater numbers than before.
“I believe the Jewish vote is going to shift to the right in astronomical numbers in this election,” said Republican city Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Jewish native of Ukraine who represents Gravesend , Coney Islande, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach.
“The deeply rooted antisemitic rot in the Democratic party is obvious, Jewish Dems feel betrayed, and they’re going to soundly reject it at the ballot box,” she said.
State Sen. Simcha Felder — a conservative Democrat who represents the heavily orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood — said Trump will rout Harris in his district by better than 2 to 1 because of rampant antisemitism, the migrant crisis and inflation.
“They are going to take it out on who is in power, and the Democrats are in power,” Felder said of Jewish voters.
“The free-for-all antisemitism acts affect Jewish people in a very bad way. But it’s not just that. Large Jewish families, like other families, are feeling the impact of inflation when they go to the grocery store,” Felder said.
Jews are disturbed with lefty progressives and protesters — particularly the Democratic Socialists of America — for backing Hamas terrorists over Israel in the war in Gaza.
“Some of the comments and actions taken by the Democratic Socialists of America are not only anti-Israel but antisemitic. There are Jewish voters nervous about the DSA,” Litwack said.
The Harris team dismissed claims Jewish voters will defect to Trump rump and the GOP.
“There is one candidate in this race who consistently denigrates American Jews, elevates Neo-Nazis and trafficks in antisemitic tropes, and it is Donald Trump,” said Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak.
“And our campaign is uniting voters who reject his rhetoric of hate and will defeat him at the ballot box in November.”
Trump last week said Jews who don’t vote for him should “have their head examined.”
