Antisemitic Attitudes across the Ideological Spectrum

Key Findings:

This quantitative research study evaluates left-wing versus right-wing antisemitism. Building on theories of social identity, racial competition, and affective partisanship, the investigators examine antisemitic attitudes across the ideological spectrum and across demographic cohorts. 

The survey focuses on young adults (with a comparison to a full adult nationally representative sample) as researchers expected young adults to have distinctly negative views related to Jewish Americans on both the left and the right. Many of the allegations of left-wing antisemitism have focused on young people and college students for whom anti-Israel attitudes are suspected of leading to antisemitic attitudes. Likewise, many of the allegations of right-wing antisemitism focus on the alt-right, an identity associated with young white men. 

The results of the study find evidence of prejudice on the ideological left and among racial minority groups, but the data clearly show the epicenter of antisemitic attitudes is young adults on the far right.  Additionally, data suggests significantly higher rates of antisemitic attitudes among racial minorities relative to whites across the ideological spectrum. 

Specifically, respondents were asked three agree/disagree questions about their views on Jewish people: 

1. Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America.
2. It is appropriate for opponents of Israel’s policies and actions to boycott Jewish American owned businesses in their communities.
3. Jews in the United States have too much power.

For all three questions, for young and old, the ideological left is least likely to agree with the antisemitic statements. For all three questions, the relationship with ideology is far more extreme among young respondents than older respondents. The young right is distinctive in that it is much more likely than either the young left or the older right to agree with each of these statements.