Hillary Clinton’s support for the Iran nuclear deal doesn’t seem to have greatly affected her candidacy among American Jewish voters, as a new poll indicates that the American Jewish community is equally divided on the Iran deal.
According to the poll conducted by GfK for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), when given a choice .of 14 presidential candidates, including 10 top GOP hopefuls, 39.7 percent of Jewish voters picked Clinton as their first choice for president, including 47 percent of women. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish and is currently leading Clinton in the early primary states, is in second place with 17.8 percent, although he leads with 20.5% as second choice. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is in third place with 10.2 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 8.7 percent of support.
Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Chris Christie are tied in 4th place with a respective 2.7 percent.
Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley gets the support of 0.6% as 1st choice, but leads the entire field of candidates with 9.5% as 3rd choice.
Asked to choose which among ten issues are most important in deciding how to vote in the 2016 elections, 42 percent chose the economy as the top priority. National security, health care, and income inequality tied for second place at 12 percent each. U.S.-Israel relations was the most important issue by only 7.2%.
The 2015 AJC survey showed that 51 percent of Jewish voters approve of the Iran deal and 47 percent disapprove. However, there’s a significant split within the community on the issue: those who consider being Jewish very important, those who view caring about Israel as a key part of their Jewish identity, and those belonging to the traditional denominations of Judaism are far more likely to oppose the deal than others. Among those who consider their being Jewish “very” important, 61 percent disapprove of the agreement (37 percent “strongly”), while 38 percent approve it (12 percent “strongly”). In contrast, 55 percent of those for whom being Jewish is “fairly” important approve the deal (15 percent “strongly”), as do 59 percent of those for whom being Jewish is not important (22 percent “strongly”).
67 percent of Orthodox and Conservative Jews disapprove of the agreement, including 45 percent who are “strongly” against it. 54 percent of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews approve the deal, as do 69 percent of those who identify as “just Jewish.”
Similarly, 54 percent of those for who very much care about Israel disapprove of the deal, while 66 percent of those for whom caring about Israel is not an important component favor the deal.
Nonetheless, a clear majority of American Jews lack confidence in the deal. Only 5 percent are “very confident,” 31 percent “somewhat confident,” 30 percent “not so confident,” and 33 percent “not confident at all” that the deal will prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Only 18 percent believe Israel’s security will be “less threatened” by the deal, while 43 percent think it will be “more threatened,” while 38 percent say it will “stay the same.”
A majority (52%) said the U.S.-Israel relationship is “getting worse,” and 42 percent said it is “staying the same” under the Obama administration. 55% percent approve of the way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is handling the U.S.-Israel relationship, and 42 percent disapprove. Forty-nine percent of respondents approve and 49 percent disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the bilateral relationship.
