Jewish voters overwhelmingly prefer Biden as US Democratic nominee, poll finds

Almost half of 581 respondents favor former US vice president, leaving Jewish Senator Bernie Sanders and others way behind

By LAURA E. ADKINS 8 May 2019, 11:23 pm
Former US vice president Joe Biden arrives at a rally organized by UFCW Union members to support Stop and Shop employees on strike throughout the region at the Stop and Shop in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on April 18, 2019. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)

JTA — Jewish voters overwhelmingly favor former US Vice President Joe Biden over Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, a new poll has found.

In the survey conducted by Morning Consult and released on Monday, 47.1 percent of Jewish registered US voters planning to vote in a Democratic primary or caucus cited Biden as their first choice, while 11.1 % favored Sanders, who is Jewish.

The next three choices: Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, at 8.9%; Senator Kamala Harris of California, 8.2%; and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, 7.3%.

Pollsters interviewed 15,770 registered voters who are planning to vote in a Democratic primary or caucus, 581 of whom identified as Jewish, between April 29 and May 5. The margin of error is 1 percentage point.

47.10 percent of US Jewish voters planning on voting in a Democratic primary cite Joe Biden as their top choice. (Graphic by Laura E. Adkins via JTA)

Biden, first elected senator in 1972, has cultivated close ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and appeared to weather the pro-Israel community’s tensions with the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear deal and other disagreements.

Sanders, an independent and self-described “democratic socialist,” has defended Israel from attacks by the left but is also frequently critical of its current right-wing government.

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