Research Roundup
May saw a number of pieces of interesting research drop about the American Jewish community.
Jews in College During Crises: A team of Brandeis researchers released “Between Home and Homeland: Jewish College Students Confront the Israel-Gaza Conflict and Campus Divides,” looking at ways young Jews navigate a range of emotions and experiences during fraught times. What makes this study distinct from others engaging with the post-October 7 college experience is its effort to reflect the voices and experiences of Jews who don’t fall cleanly in a pro- or anti-Israel stance. Jonathan Krasner offered some helpful framing in a recent interview with Arno Rosenfeld of the Forward.
Most Jews Disapprove: A recent national poll of Jewish voters found that 74% disapprove of Trump’s performance and just over 50% think he’s antisemitic. While 69% say they are emotionally attached to Israel, 74% oppose Trump’s proposal to transfer Palestinians in Gaza to Arab countries and have the U.S. take control of Gaza and redevelop the land.
Project Esther Proceeds: Released last October, this Heritage Foundation report is a conservative playbook for fighting antisemitism. Like many of the proposals in Project 2025 (another more publicly reviled Heritage production), the Trump Administration is giving these ideas an opportunity to become a reality, and the American Jewish community has begun to look at this project critically. There’s the conspiracy-minded aspects of the Heritage Foundation’s pitch to Jewish groups, identifying the Soros and Pritzker families, along with Angela Davis, as masterminds of a pro-Palistinian/antisemitic movement. There’s the heavily Christian influence on this and other efforts. It also focuses only on left wing antisemitism, a fact that has kept many prominent groups on the sidelines. The Nexus Project isn’t having it, saying, Project Esther “is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to advance its broader agenda of radically reshaping higher education and crushing progressive movements more generally.”
