Arno Rosenfeld:

So we know in general from public opinion polling that Jews do not support President Trump’s approach to antisemitism. He doesn’t have majority support on really any of the tactics that he’s implemented in the name of protecting American Jews, although in some areas we do see that more Jews support a couple of his strategies on college campuses, say, than support his job performance overall.

So there is a little segment that is open to it, even if they’re skeptical of him as a president. But I think there’s also a sense that, especially on college campuses, Jews are being used as sort of a pawn. So we saw, right, when Columbia University reached the settlement with the federal government, the education secretary, Linda McMahon, described it as a momentous conservative victory.

And she pointed to things that she said conservatives have been trying to do for many years around DEI and affirmative action and addressing left-wing bias on campus that didn’t really have to do with Jews. And so there’s a sense that Jews are being used as the excuse to launch this crackdown on colleges and universities, and that Jews are then going to be blamed as a result of that.

So I think there’s a lot of anxiety that, rather than keeping Jews safe, some of these things may be inflaming those sort of tensions. On the other hand, some folks are really eager to see this address, to see the campus protests addressed more forcefully.

So it’s a mixed opinion, but that’s some of what I’m hearing from American Jews.

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