Poll Finds Virtual Unanimity Among U.S. Jews for Continued American Aid to Israel

The Gallup Poll, on commission from Newsweek magazine, has reported a finding which is a remarkable comment on the changing psychology of American Jews. A Jewish community in which–less than 50 years ago–Zionism was regarded as a divisive concept, dangerous to the security of that community as a minority, now has a substantial number of members favoring United States aid to Israel even at the risk of war. The Gallup Poll found virtual unanimity among American Jews for continued United States economic and military aid to Israel. And more than four of every ten American Jews were recorded as supporting that position even at the risk of involving the United States in a major conflict. The findings of the poll were published in the current (March 1) edition of the magazine in its cover story. “The American Jew Today.” The Newsweek article also reported an interesting footnote to the widely reported generation gap in American Jewish life. For a growing number of American Jews of all ages, said the report, Israel “is the one place where a Jew can live a fully Jewish life.” But most of the younger American Jews who feel “committed to developing their Jewish consciousness” want to do it here in the United States. The Newsweek conclusion was that American Jewry, in a growing search for a Jewish identity, was displaying “a new dynamic” which could lead to “significant changes” in relations with the rest of American society and with Jews abroad.

The Gallup Poll confirmed many previous findings that U.S. Jews are better educated, are attending college in greater numbers and enjoy a higher median income than the average of the U.S. population as a whole. The poll also confirmed findings that American Jews are overwhelmingly middle class and consistently vote liberal. But Newsweek reporters who interviewed representative Jews, among them leading intellectuals, student radicals, members of the Jewish establishment and the man-in-the-street, also found that Jews considered themselves faced with a painful choice between their liberal leanings and their interests as Jews. This was linked to the “discovery” that many American Jews do not share the affluence of the majority, to the “erosion” of support for Israel among Christian leaders, and to a fear of anti-Semitism, particularly among black militants where the rising aspirations of blacks conflict with the interests of the established Jewish community. Newsweek quoted one Jewish leader as saying, “Many of us now feel that when the chips are down, only Jews will stand up for Jews.”