By Jacob KornbluhOctober 13, 2024
This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox.
With only 23 days until the election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are ramping up their outreach to Jewish voters. Recent polls show the race is neck-and-neck in key battleground states, where Jews remain a pivotal voting bloc.
Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, and prominent Jewish entertainers headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for Jewish voters on Sunday in Narberth, Pennsylvania. As Emhoff began his remarks, the crowd of about 200 attendees sang “Yom huledet sameach,” happy birthday in Hebrew, to celebrate his 60th birthday.
Actor Ben Stiller, songwriter Benj Pasek, and comedian Alex Edelman also discussed the crucial role Jews play in a potential Harris victory. “How important is it? I am here,” Stiller said to laughs from the crowd. Edelman and Pasek broke the Yom Kippur fast with Emhoff as he was crisscrossing the state.
Sunday’s event was part of an aggressive outreach effort by the Harris campaign and her allies to court Jewish voters in the states President Biden won by less than 1% in the 2020 presidential race.
While Jews make up just 2% of the overall electorate, the number of Jewish voters in states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin exceeds the margin that determined the winner in the Biden-Trump matchup.
A recent poll sponsored by the Jewish Democratic Council of America showed that 71% of Jewish voters across the seven swing states favored Harris, while 26% cited Trump as their choice.
How Trump is appealing to Jewish voters
The Trump campaign has also intensified efforts to boost his 2020 share of the Jewish vote — which stood at 31%, according to the Associated Press’ Votecast exit poll, and 21% according to a survey commissioned by GBAO, a Democratic-aligned polling firm. Last month, Trump faced criticism for remarks in which he said that Jews would in large part be to blame if he loses the election.
Trump has made several recent appearances at events with Jewish audiences, including a 20-minute visit to the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Queens, NY, last week. A poll of Orthodox voters showed support for Trump at an all-time high — 77% among Orthodox, and 93% of Haredim.
The former president also recorded a video message to Americans living in Israel. “The other side doesn’t even like you,” Trump said of Democrats. “I will keep protecting Israel. Please go out and vote, and I promise not to disappoint you.”
Additionally, the Trump and Harris campaigns are relying on surrogates to carry the message directly to Jewish voters. Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a close Trump ally, said Trump is trying to earn the Jewish vote by articulating his policies on Israel, antisemitism and domestic issues. The Harris campaign dispatched Jewish House members — Dan Goldman of New York and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida — as well as Rep. Ritchie Torres, a staunch pro-Israel Democrat to Jewish neighborhoods in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Phoenix. Goldman told Jewish Insider that Democrats can “absolutely not” take Jewish voters for granted.
The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Democratic Council of America, as well as other Jewish groups, have deployed dozens of paid staff and hundreds of volunteers to engage in grassroots efforts like phone banking, door-knocking, canvassing and writing letters to the editor.
On Monday, a group of Jewish conservatives — including officials from the administrations of both President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush — will make the case for Harris on a virtual call hosted by JDCA.