American Jews Put Ideology First at the Polls

However, exit polls show a different story in many other states. According to Fox’s highly respected exit poll, nationally, Trump’s overall Jewish vote, inclusive of the states above, increased by just 2% to about 32%. According to Edison Research, which does extensive exit polling for most networks and other media, Trump received only 22% of the Jewish vote. Based on a much smaller sample, left-leaning J Street concluded that Harris won 71% of the vote, to 26% for Trump. The data shows that Jews were among the most loyal Democrats in this election, with little slippage compared to prior years. Given the increased Jewish vote for Trump in some states, it means that he lost support in other states, including California; yet, overall, Trump improved his performance in California in 2024 compared to 2020.