Survey Finds Overwhelming Majority Of American Jews Believe Anti-Semitism Is Still A Problem In U.S.

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 2 June 1997

An American Jewish Committee survey examining a broad range of issues affecting American Jewry has revealed that an overwhelming majority of American Jews see anti-Semitism as a continuing problem in the United States today, with the "Religious Right" and "Moslems" viewed as the most anti-Semitic groups. In addition, many more American Jews believe that anti-Semitism in the United States will increase over the next few years than believe it will decrease. A majority of American Jews also maintain that anti-Semitism is a greater threat to Jewish life in the United States than is intermarriage.

This data on Jewish perceptions of anti-Semitism is reported in AJC's "1997 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion." The report also details the views of American Jews on a wide array of subjects including Jewish identity concerns, political and social issues in the United States, opinions of various countries, the attachment of American Jews to Israel, and the Israel-Arab peace process.

The survey was conducted for AJC by Market Facts, Inc., a leading survey research organization. A demographically representative sample of 1,160 adult Jewish respondents were interviewed by telephone between February 3 - 11, 1997. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is +/- 3 percentage points.

Among the key findings of the survey related to anti-Semitism are the following:

1) When asked "Do you think that anti-Semitism in the United States is currently a very serious problem, somewhat of a problem, or not a problem at all?" 40 percent of American Jews answer "very serious problem," 55 percent "somewhat of a problem," 5 percent "not a problem at all," and 1 percent "not sure.

Asked if they agree or disagree with the statement "Virtually all positions of influence in the United States are open to Jews," 51 percent of American Jews "agree," 47 percent "disagree," and 1 percent are "not sure."

2) In response to the question "Looking ahead over the next several years, do you think that anti-Semitism in the United States will increase greatly, increase somewhat, remain the same, decrease somewhat, or decrease greatly?" 39 percent of Americans say "increase" ("increase greatly" - 8 percent; "increase somewhat" - 31 percent), 10 percent "decrease" ("decrease somewhat" - 9 percent; "decrease greatly" - 1 percent) 48 percent "remain the same," and 2 percent "not sure."

3) Presented with a list of 10 groups and asked "In your opinion, what proportion of each of the following groups in the United States is anti-Semitic - most, many, some, very few, or none?" 47 percent of American Jews answer "most" (22 percent) or "many" (25 percent) for the "Religious Right," while only 9 percent respond "very few" (8 percent) or "none" (1 percent). In nearly identical fashion, 47 percent of American Jews answer "most" (21 percent) or "many" (26 percent) for "Moslems," while only 9 percent respond "very few" (8 percent) or "none" (1 percent).

Ranking third and fourth among the groups seen as anti-Semitic by American Jews are "Fundamentalist Protestants" and "Blacks." Thus 30 percent of American Jews see "most" (10 percent) or "many" (20 percent) "Fundamentalist Protestants" as anti-Semitic, while 14 percent believe that "very few" (13 percent) or "none" (1 percent) are anti-Semitic. Closely parallel to this, 27 percent view "most" ( 7 percent) or "many" (20 percent) "Blacks" as anti-Semitic, while 16 percent see "very few" (15 percent) or "none" (1 percent) as such.

4) Asked "In your opinion, which is a greater threat to Jewish life in the United States today - intermarriage or anti-Semitism?" 61 percent of American Jews answer "anti-Semitism," 32 percent "intermarriage," 4 percent volunteer "both equally," and 2 percent are "not sure."

Other important findings of the survey are as follows:

Social and Political Issues

When asked "Do you think that abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?" 60 percent of American Jews say "legal under any circumstances," 33 percent "legal only under certain circumstances," 6 percent "illegal in all circumstances," and 1 percent "not sure."

Asked "Do you think the number of immigrants from foreign countries who are permitted to come to the United States to live should be increased a lot, increased a little, left the same as it is now, decreased a little, or decreased a lot?" 34 percent of American Jews say "decreased" ("decreased a lot"--16 percent; "decreased a little"--18 percent), 15 percent " increased" ("increased a lot"--3 percent; "increased a little"--12 percent), 48 percent "left the same as it is now," and 3 percent "not sure."

In response to the question "Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder?" 80 percent of American Jews answer "favor," 16 percent "oppose," and 4 percent "not sure."

Jewish Identity Concerns

Asked "Which one of the following qualities do you consider most important to your Jewish identity?" 47 percent of American Jews respond "being part of the Jewish people," 18 percent "a commitment to social justice," 16 percent "religious observance," 3 percent "support for Israel," 13 percent "something else," and 2 percent "not sure."

Presented with a list of five activities and asked to indicate the importance of each for their Jewish identity, 71 percent of American Jews rate "celebration of Jewish holidays" as either "extremely important" (20 percent) or "very important" (51 percent). This is followed distantly by "Jewish study" ("extremely important"--12 percent; "very important"--31 percent), "participation in synagogue services" ("extremely important"--9 percent; "very important"--28 percent), "Jewish organizational activity" ("extremely important"--7 percent; "very important"--24 percent), and "travel to Israel" ("extremely important"--6 percent; "very important"--17 percent).

Opinion of Various Countries

Asked if their "overall opinion" of 13 countries is "very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable," 84 percent of American Jews answer favorable for Israel ("very favorable"--49 percent; "somewhat favorable"--35 percent), 4 percent unfavorable ("very unfavorable"--1 percent; "somewhat unfavorable"--3 percent), 11 percent "neutral," and 1 percent "not sure." At the other end of the spectrum, 56 percent of American Jews have an unfavorable opinion of Saudi Arabia ("very unfavorable"--20 percent; "somewhat unfavorable"--36 percent), 13 percent a favorable opinion ("very favorable"--1 percent; "somewhat favorable"--12 percent), 28 percent are "neutral," and 2 percent are "not sure."

With regard to Germany, 29 percent of American Jews have a favorable opinion ("very favorable" - 4 percent; "somewhat favorable" - 25 percent), 35 percent an unfavorable opinion ("very unfavorable" - 11 percent; "somewhat unfavorable" - 24 percent), 35 percent are "neutral," and 1 percent are "not sure." At the same time, when presented with the statement "Germany today is making a sincere effort to deal with the legacy of the Holocaust," 68 percent of American Jews agree ("agree strongly" - 16 percent; "agree somewhat" - 52 percent), 28 percent disagree ("disagree strongly" - 10 percent; "disagree somewhat" - 18 percent), and 4 percent are "not sure."

Israel-Arab Peace Process

When asked, following the signing of the Hebron agreement, but before the Har Homa controversy, if they "support" or "oppose" the "Netanyahu government's current handling of the peace negotiations with the Arabs," 61 percent of American Jews answer "support," 24 percent "oppose," and 15 percent "not sure."

In response to the question, asked in February 1997, "As compared with one year ago, are you now more optimistic about the chance for a lasting peace between Israel and the Arabs, less optimistic, or do you think the chance for a lasting peace is about the same as it was one year ago?" 58 percent of American Jews answer "about the same," 23 percent "less optimistic," 17 percent "more optimistic" and 1 percent "not sure."

Commenting on the survey results, Dr. David Singer, AJC's Director of Research, noted: "The 1997 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion paints a detailed portrait in numbers of American Jewry, the most comprehensive report of its kind in years. A key element of that portrait is the ongoing anxiety of American Jews about the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, this despite all that Jews have achieved in the United States.

"In terms of the Israel-Arab peace process, it is clear that much has changed on the ground since the survey was conducted in February 1997. We therefore plan to go into the field again in the near future to update our data in this area."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org