Jewish Voters Still Back Democrats, Despite Trump’s Claims About ‘Jexodus’

Jewish voters continue to overwhelmingly support Democrats, despite President Donald Trump’s recent claims otherwise.

In the past week, the president has twice tweeted about a group represented by a former Trump campaign staffer that is encouraging Jewish voters to join the Republican Party.

“The ‘Jexodus’ movement encourages Jewish people to leave the Democrat Party. Total disrespect! Republicans are waiting with open arms,” the President declared on Twitter.

But polls and election results show that there is nothing like the movement that Trump describes going on.

In the November 2018 midterms, for example, 79% of Jewish voters backed Democratic candidates for Congress, according to Pew Research Center. This was slightly below 2006 levels but an increase from the 2014 midterms.

On the presidential front, Jewish voters have overwhelmingly supported Democrats for decades: Al Gore won 79% of Jewish voters in 2000, John Kerry won 74% in 2004, Barack Obama won 78% in 2008 and 69% in 2012, and Hillary Clinton won 71% in 2016.

So what is Jexodus? A combination of the words “Jewish” and “exodus,” the group has appeared recently touting a purported break from the Democratic Party. The group’s website says that Jewish millennials are “tired of living in bondage to leftist politics” and claims that Democrats are anti-Semitic and taking them for granted.

The group’s website lists as a spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko, who is described as a former model and Trump staffer.