Obama’s approval rating dips among US Jews, poll finds

US President Barack Obama’s approval rating among US Jews, a majority of whom traditionally vote Democrat, has dropped over the past three months but remains above the national average, a new survey has found.

According to a Gallup poll published this week, the president’s approval rating among American Jews has averaged 54 percent in this year’s first quarter. His highest rating was 61% in January, which then dipped sharply to 52% in February and then dropped to 50% in March.

Just 46% of all Americans thought Obama was doing a good job as president in the same period this year. The eight-point gap between the national average and Jewish support marked a decrease from the average gap of 13 percentage points.

According to the survey, religious Jews and ultra-Orthodox Jews were less likely to think positively of Obama than Jews of other denominations. Among those who attend weekly Shabbat services, 60% said they disapproved of the president, compared with 38% for those who seldom or never attend.

Jewish women were also more likely to approve of the president, with a rating of 59%, than men at 48%.

The findings were based on responses from 1,022 Americans who identified as Jewish and had a margin of error of 4%.

The poll attributed the weakening of Obama’s standing among US Jews to the controversial political framework reached between the US-led P5+1 world powers and Iran on its contentious nuclear program this month, over the vociferous objections of Israel, its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and some US-based Jewish groups.

The Obama administration has embarked on a campaign to sell the deal to US Jewish community leaders, with Obama set to attend two meetings with Jewish leaders on Monday. Obama and Susan Rice, his national security adviser, will first meet Monday with top officials of Jewish organizations, including civil defense groups like the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, umbrella groups like the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America, pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and J Street, and the major religious streams in a bid to convince the groups to back the Iran framework deal.

Later in the afternoon Monday, they will meet with what the White House describes on its schedule as “Jewish community leaders.” Sources who have been apprised of the second meeting says this group is composed of “influencers,” or major donors to the Democratic Party who have expressed skepticism about the Iran nuclear deal, among them Israeli-American mogul Haim Saban.

Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his undersecretary, Wendy Sherman, who is leading the US side in the nuclear talks, met with representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Orthodox, Reform and Conservative streams to discuss the emerging deal, set to be finalized June 30.

Officials present would not describe the content of the off-the-record meeting, but they did say that the Jewish officials raised concerns about the deal.

“Both the secretary and the undersecretary articulated with depth, rigor and passion the deal and explained it,” one Jewish official said. “There was an opportunity for real engagement. Secretary Kerry was reaching out to those who need more engagement and convincing.”

The deal outline presented earlier this month by Iran and the major powers exchanges sanctions relief for restrictions aimed at keeping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

JTA contributed to this report.