In United States politics, the trends of Jews have changed political positions multiple times. Many early American German-Jewish immigrants to the United States tended to be politically conservative, but the wave of Eastern European Jews, starting in the early 1880s, were generally more liberal or left-wing, and eventually became the political majority.Hasia Diner, The Jews of the United States. 1654 to 2000 (2004), ch 5 Many of the latter moved to America having had experience in the socialist, anarchist, and communist movements as well as the Labor Bund emanating from Eastern Europe. Many Jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century American labor movement, and founded unions that played a major role in left-wing politics and, after 1936, inside the Democratic Party politics. For most of the 20th century since 1936, the vast majority of Jews in the United States have been aligned with the Democratic Party. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the Republican Party has launched initiatives to persuade American Jews to support their political policies, with relatively little success.
Over the past century, Jews in Europe and the Americas have traditionally tended towards the political left, and played key roles in the birth of the labor movement as well as socialism. While Diaspora Jews have also been represented in the conservative side of the political spectrum, even politically conservative Jews in Northern America and Western Europe have tended to support pluralism, or other positions associated with cosmopolitanism, more consistently than many other elements of the political right in those places.
The divide between right and left correlates to the various religious movements among American Jews. The more socially conservative movements in American Judaism (the Orthodox movement and various Haredi sects, though not the Conservative movement) tend to be politically conservative, while the more socially liberal movements (Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist) tend to be more politically liberal or left-leaning as well.
There are also a number of Jewish secular organizations at the local, national, and international levels. These organizations often play an important part in the Jewish community. Most of the largest groups, such as Hadassah and the United Jewish Communities, have an elected leadership. No one secular group represents the entire Jewish community, and there is often significant internal debate among Jews about the stances these organizations take on affairs dealing with the Jewish community as a whole, such as anti-Semitism and policies regarding Israel.
In the United States and Canada today, the mainly secular United Jewish Communities (UJC), formerly known as the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), represents over 150 Jewish Federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Every major American city has its local "Jewish Federation", and many have sophisticated community centers and provide services, mainly health care-related. They raise record sums of money for philanthropic and humanitarian causes in North America and Israel. Other organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel, B'nai B'rith, and Agudath Israel represent different segments of the American Jewish community on a variety of issues.
As of July 2025, Governor of Colorado Jared Polis, Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro, Governor of Delaware Matt Meyer, Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker, Governor of Hawaii Josh Green and Governor of North Carolina Josh Stein are Jewish.
Progressive movement
With the influx of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe many members of the Jewish community were attracted to labor and socialist movements and numerous Jewish newspapers such as Forwerts and Morgen Freiheit had a socialist or communist orientation. Left-wing organizations such as the Arbeter Ring and the Jewish People's Fraternal Order played an important part in Jewish community life until World War II.
Jewish Americans are involved in many important social movements, being in the forefront of promoting such issues as workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, religious pluralism, peace movements, and various other left-wing and progressive causes.
Presidential elections Jews as small-town businessmen were generally conservative Republicans in the late 19th century, but did not mobilize as a separate political faction. The new Yiddish-speaking arrivals in the early 20th century were much more radical and became highly mobilized in labor unions and parties.Hasia R. Diner, The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 (U of California Press, 2004) pp. 159–161. In 1920 38% of Jews voted Socialist, and 43% voted Republican. According to Beth Wenger, New Dealer Franklin Roosevelt, "cemented an unbreakable Jewish-Democratic bond.".Beth S. Wenger, New York Jews and the Great Depression (Yale UP, 1996) p. 133. In 1940 and 1944, 90% of Jews voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt, and 75% voted for Harry S. Truman in 1948. During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more for Adlai Stevenson, while Dwight Eisenhower garnered 40% of their vote for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans since Harding's 43% in 1920. In 1960, 83% voted for the Catholic Democrat John F. Kennedy. In 1964, 90% of American Jews voted for Lyndon Johnson against his Republican opponent Barry Goldwater, who was a Protestant with two Jewish grandparents.Mark R. Levy and Michael S. Kramer, The Ethnic Factor (1973) p. 103 Hubert Humphrey garnered 81% of the Jewish vote in the 1968 election, in his losing bid for president against Richard Nixon.
During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, Jewish voters were relatively apprehensive about George McGovern, and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Jewish support for Republicans to 35%. In the election of 1976, Jewish voters supported the Democrat Jimmy Carter by 71% over the incumbent president Gerald Ford's 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, Jewish votes for the Democrat became relatively lower, with 45% support, with Republican election winner Ronald Reagan garnering 39%, and 14% going to the independent candidate John Anderson.
During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984 he retained 31% of the Jewish vote, while 67% went to the Democrat Walter Mondale. The 1988 election saw Jewish voters favor the Democrat Michael Dukakis by 64%, while George H W Bush polled at 35%, though during his re-election in 1992 his Jewish support fell to 11%, with 80% voting for Bill Clinton and 9% going to the independent candidate Ross Perot. Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high Jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting Robert Dole and 3% for Perot.
The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued Jewish support for Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry remain in the high to mid-70% range. Kerry was Catholic, but had Jewish ancestry. In the 2000 presidential election, Joe Lieberman became the first Jewish American to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen to be the vice-presidential nominee to the Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. Republican George W Bush's re-election in 2004 saw Jewish support rise from 19% to 24%..2004 exit polls at CNN
In the 2008 presidential election, 78% of Jews voted for the Democratic nominee Barack Obama, who became the first African-American to be elected president.OP-ED: Why Jews voted for Obama by Marc Stanley, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 5, 2008 (retrieved on December 6, 2008). Polls indicated that during this election, 83% of white Jews voted for Obama compared to 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of whites identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted for Obama. In the 2012 presidential election, 68% of Jews voted for Barack Obama's re-election.
In the 2016 election, 71% of Jews voted for the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over the eventual winner Donald Trump. In a 2018 poll, 71% of American Jews disapproved of Donald Trump's job as president, with only 26% approving—being the lowest approving religious group among those surveyed.
Of the 2016 and 2020 presidential candidates, many front runners were either married to Jews, had children who were married to Jews, or were Jewish themselves. Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, and Marianne Williamson are Jewish. Michael Bennet's mother is Jewish. Beto O'Rourke and Kamala Harris are married to Jews. Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism and married the Jewish real estate developer Jared Kushner. Both were active in Trump's administration. Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton married the Jewish investor Marc Mezvinsky, the son of U.S. Representative and felon Edward Mezvinsky. Lastly, all three of Joe Biden's children who lived into adulthood married Jews.
United States Congress
For Congressional and Senate races, since 1968, American Jews have voted about 70–80% for Democrats; this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections. Currently, there are 9 Jews among the 100 U.S. Senators: 8 Democrats (Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, Brian Schatz, Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, Jacky Rosen, Elissa Slotkin, and Jon Ossoff), and one of the Senate's two independents (Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats as well).
As of January 2023, there are 33 Jews serving in the 118th Congress, a decrease of one from the 117th. They constitute 6% of that body's members, three times the 2% of Jews in the general American population.
Civil rights
During the American Civil War, American Jews were divided on their views regarding slavery and abolition. Prior to 1861, there were virtually no rabbinical sermons on slavery. The silence on this issue was probably a result of fear that the controversy would create conflict within the Jewish community due to its relative popularity at the time, though some Jews did come to play a role in the ending of slavery. Some Jews owned slaves or traded them, and the livelihoods of many in the Jewish community of both the North and South were tied to the slave system. Most southern Jews supported slavery, and some, like Judah P. Benjamin, advocated its expansion. The abolitionist Ben Wade, who knew Benjamin in the U.S. Senate, described him as "an Israelite with Egyptian principles". Northern Jews sympathized with the South, and very few were abolitionists, seeking peace and remaining silent on the subject of slavery. America's largest Jewish community in New York was "overwhelmingly pro-southern, pro-slavery, and anti-Lincoln in the early years of the war". However, eventually, they began to lean politically toward "Father Abraham", his Republican party, and emancipation.Jews Mostly Supported Slavery — Or Kept Silent — During Civil War The Jewish Daily Forward, 5 July 2013
Since the beginning of the 20th century, many American Jews became very active in fighting societal prejudice and discrimination, and have historically been active participants in movements for civil rights, including active support of and participation in the Civil Rights Movement, active support of and participation in the labor rights movement, and active support of and participation in the women's rights movement.