Polling this week has been extremely dynamic between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris just a few weeks after the latter became the Democratic Party’s de facto nominee — and then actual nominee — following President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the race. While all major polls show Harris having closed a significant gap that opened up between Trump and Biden, with the former president having the advantage, Trump has managed to pull ahead in some of the more recent surveys, including among a coveted voting bloc in a blue state.
Trump has taken a narrow lead among Jewish voters in deep-blue New York. According to a Siena Research Institute poll released Tuesday, Trump now leads with 50% of likely Jewish voters, edging out Harris, who has 49% support. This slim lead for Trump represents a significant shift from June, when President Biden was ahead among likely Jewish voters in New York with a 52%-46% margin over Trump, Fox News reported.
Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has sparked concerns among some supporters of Israel, who worry that her support for the Jewish state may be diminishing. Critics argue that she has distanced herself from the Biden administration’s stance since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. These fears were further reinforced by her decision not to go with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, and opt instead for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is even further to the left of Harris on some issues.
In March, Harris became the first administration official to call for an “immediate cease-fire” in the conflict. Later that month, she also made headlines as the first official to warn of “consequences” for Israel if it proceeded with a planned invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah during an interview with ABC News, according to Fox. Harris has also faced scrutiny over her relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly after she seemed to evade questions about whether Netanyahu had become an “obstacle to peace.”
“I believe that we have got to continue to enforce what we know to be and should be the priorities in terms of what is happening in Gaza,” Harris said in response. “We’ve been very clear that far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. We have been very clear that Israel and the Israeli people and Palestinians are entitled to an equal amount of security and dignity.”
Regardless of Harris’ passing on Shapiro, Jewish voters have historically favored Democratic candidates for many decades. An analysis by the American Enterprise Institute indicates that since 1968, Jewish voters have consistently supported Democrats over Republicans, typically by a 71% to 26% margin, though some of the most anti-Semitic members of Congress are Democrats.
The poll also revealed positive news for Harris, as she has solidified her lead over Trump among likely voters in New York. Harris now leads Trump 53%-39% in the state, a significant improvement from the eight- to 10-point lead Biden held in earlier polls.
Meanwhile, onetime liberal darling-turned-populist provocateur Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has once again angered his Democratic Party with a truth bomb none of his colleagues wanted to hear. Namely, he has predicted that former Trump will win the all-important Keystone State after taking it in 2016 and losing there to Biden in 2020.
Appearing on Newsmax, Fetterman said his home state voters will size up Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris and find out the choice is obvious. “I think if you match up Trump with Harris, and I think that’s what this is really about, and I do believe he’s going to win Pennsylvania. And I do believe it’s going to be close, but whether it’s Biden, whether it was Clinton, or whether it was with Vice President Harris, I think it’s going to be very close.”