US President Donald Trump waves as he walks before departing for Florida from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

An overwhelming majority of American Jews disapprove of US President Donald Trump’s job performance thus far, including his efforts to combat antisemitism, according to a new poll.

The survey — conducted by the Mellman Group and published by the Jewish Electorate Institute — found that, among American Jews, 72 percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of Trump’s performance. Moreover, 67 percent of Jews indicated that they “strongly disapprove” of the president’s performance, compared to only 16 percent who “strongly approve” of the job Trump has done thus far. 

“American Jewish voters are deeply distressed about the direction in which Donald Trump is taking the country and oppose many of his key policies,” Mark Mellman, a Jewish Democratic pollster who founded the Mellman Group, said in a statement.

A majority of Jews, 56 percent, expressed disapproval with how the president is combating antisemitism. Comparatively, 31 percent indicated approval of how Trump has handled anti-Jewish hatred thus far. More precisely, 49 percent of respondents indicated they “strongly disapprove” and 24 percent claimed they “strongly approve” of Trump’s approach to antisemitism. 

During the 2024 US presidential election, as part of a broader effort to entice Jewish voters, Trump vowed to aggressively crack down on antisemitic incidents, which have spiked across the country in the 18 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, according to data compiled by both federal government agencies and advocacy organizations.

However, according to the poll, Jewish denominations are heavily divided on the White House’s approach to antisemitism, with a majority of Orthodox Jews supporting the Trump administration’s attempts to tackle anti-Jewish hatred. Conversely, most Reform and unaffiliated respondents indicated disapproval of the White House efforts to punish antisemitic conduct. 

Moreover, the poll reveals overwhelming disapproval of the Trump administration’s executive orders empowering federal agencies to deport immigrants without a legal hearing. Approximately 71 percent of Jews “oppose” and 23 percent “support” the executive order. 

Since returning to the White House, the Trump administration has detained several non-citizen anti-Israel activists on university campuses for participating in often destructive demonstrations while allegedly supporting Hamas, the US-designated terrorist organization that has ruled Gaza since 2007.  Some of these arrests, particularly of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, have sparked significant backlash, with critics accusing the White House of undermining free speech rights.

However, about two-thirds of the American people support the deportation of non-citizen students, such as Khalil, who indicate support for internationally recognized terrorist groups, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll from March.

Martin Frost, a former congressman and chairman emeritus of the Jewish Electorate Institute, said the Trump administration should consider the poll a warning. 

“This poll makes it clear that President Trump’s executive actions – across the board – are wholly rejected by American Jewish voters,” Frost said in a statement. “The president should not ignore these results, including on his handling of antisemitism, as they reflect significant political risks for both him and his party in upcoming elections.”

American Jews are a traditionally Democratic-leaning voting bloc who have consistently supported the Democratic presidential nominee over the Republican nominee by wide margins.