2019 AJC Anti-Semitism USA Survey

Key Findings:

The 2019 study finds that American Jews are deeply concerned about antisemitism in America and they believe it is getting worse. Avi Mayer, Managing Director of Public Affairs and Senior Spokesperson at AJC, authored an analysis as part of the 2019 research overview: American Jews on Antisemitism in America: Insights from American Jewish Committee’s Landmark Survey. He writes that 88% of American Jews believe antisemitism is a problem in America today and 84% say it has increased over the past five years. 

Concern about antisemitism cuts across differences of age, party affiliation, and religious identification. 93% of Democrats, 87% of independents, and 75% of Republicans say antisemitism is a problem in America, as do 80% of those of all religious affiliations and 86% of those of all age groups.

35% say they have personally been the targets of antisemitism in the past five years. 31% of American Jews say they have avoided publicly wearing, carrying, or displaying things that might identify them as Jewish, while a 25% say they avoid certain places, events, or situations out of concern for their safety as Jews at least some of the time. 

33% of American Jews say their Jewish institutions have been targeted by antisemitic graffiti (22%), threats (17%), and/or physical attacks (8%). 71% say Jewish institutions with which they are affiliated have either hired security guards (57%), had police posted on site or outside (52%), and/or have trained or informed members on how to respond to an attack (39%).

Antisemitism on Campus

36% of survey respondents said the climate on college campuses is more hostile to pro-Israel students than it was a year ago, while 41% said it was roughly the same.

19% of respondents have either experienced antisemitism on a college campus themselves over the past five years or know someone who has. Young people are most likely to have experienced antisemitism on campus or to know someone who has: 35% of respondents aged 18-29 have experienced antisemitism on campus. 25% of these respondents said they know someone who has experienced antisemitism on a college campus and 10% said they experienced antisemitism and know someone who has. 

Demographics

In his 2019 survey analysis, Mayer writes that young people are significantly more likely to have experienced some form of antisemitism, with 45% of respondents aged 18-29 saying they have been targeted by antisemitic remarks in a variety of forms. 

Young people (38% of those aged 18-29) also admit to concealing their Jewish identity in public, which is more than any other age group. 

Israel and Antisemitsm

According to Mayer’s 2019 analysis, American Jews view efforts and statements against the State of Israel as being tinged with antisemitism.

Regarding the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement directed toward Israel, 

14% of respondents said it isn’t antisemitic, while 35% considered the movement mostly antisemitic, and 47% said it is not mostly antisemitic but has antisemitic supporters. 

The more familiar respondents were with the BDS Movement, the more likely they were to consider it to be antisemitic. 88% of young people familiar with the movement were the most likely to say BDS is mostly antisemitic or has antisemitic supporters, 

American Jews believe that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism: 84% of respondents said the statement “Israel has no right to exist” is antisemitic. The belief that rejecting Israel’s existence is antisemitic cuts across differences of party affiliation, age, and religious identity. 

Antisemitism and Political Identities

The majority of respondents (72%) disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the threat of antisemitism in the United States. Breaking the responses down further, 84 percent of Jewish Republican voters approve of the president’s handling of antisemitism, while 92 percent of Democrats disapprove. 

Survey respondents blame the Republican Party when asked which of the two major political parties is more responsible for the current level of antisemitism in the U.S. On a scale of 1 (no responsibility) to 10 (total responsibility), respondents gave the Republican Party an average score of 6.2 and the Democratic Party a 3.6.