When Zohran Mamdani won in New York, Israeli TV reported on the situation with confusion because so many young Jewish people voted for him. The expectation was that New York Jewish people want nothing to do with his Pro-Palestinian politics, but in the end, he got significant support in the Jewish community, and among the under-30s it was overwhelming. Infact many of Mamdani's most enthusiastic supporters were young Jewish women. Something similar is starting to happen in the UK with Zack Polanski and the Green Party. A recent report by the Institute For Jewish Policy Reserach reported two facts (1) Jewish support for the Greens had shot up massively since the 2024 election, (2) Jewish support for the Greens is higher than the national average support for the Greens.
So when the Greens were on 7% in the polls, among British-Jews the number was at 18%. Now the Greens are at around 16%, among Jewish people this is likely around 25%.
It is important to note though, this is below the support for the Conservative Party who get above 50% from British-Jews. I would add too that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove tend to be quite popular among the Jewish community.
Left v Right Polarization.
This Tory-Green polarization, one could say represents an old polarization among the Jewish community on Israel-related politics, with a larger conservative block supporting the Israeli Govt and a more "rebellious" Leftist block opposing the Govt.
Jewish families are known for having disagreements on Israeli politics and of course Polanski has different politics to the Tory party on Israel.
But it is fair to say that the extreme violence of Netanyahu and his Government has increased that Leftist block while having a Jewish leader in Polanski is a bonus.
A lot of people's politics has changed due to the Gaza War.
The report mentioned that "domestic priorities" often came before Israel. That is not to say Israel is a non-issue policies but economic policies especially housing are a massive issue while so many young Jewish people are born in North London, an area of the country where housing is unaffordable.
The stereo-type is that Jewish people are not common members of the working-class. This may have been true 40 years ago when most were able to buy a house for example in the suburbs of North London - but this is no longer the case.
Young Jewish people are overwhelming struggling and the label working-class would be a more accurate term to describe their class rather than referring to them as middle-class.
The Rise Of Fuentes
The rise of Fascism across the world, Trump, the AfD in Germany and Reform in the UK are of course a factor. Anti-Fascism is built into the Jewish community which is why support for Reform is around 11% - a number less than the national polls put Reform on (26% to 34%).
A wave of panic and horror has hit the Jewish community with the popularity of Neo-Nazis like Nick Fuentes, who has videos with over 100k likes on Instagram. Those numbers are followed by Anti-Semitic comments which frighten people on a daily basis.
The Youtube algorithm is seeing Anti-Semitic videos appear on feeds - videos full of mockery, misrepresentation and fake history demonizing Jewish people.
But it is not only hate towards Jewish people that is of concern as many are worried about the Transphobia, Islamophobia and hate towards asylum seekers.
Comments from Reform members on social media towards British-Muslims about being deported or "not really being British" shocks a lot of Jewish people and reminds them of how Jewish people were treated as aliens in the country of their birth during the 20th Century.
The point is that Jewish people seem to have a higher level of fear for the Far-Right and for what might be ahead with a Reform Govt - and this feeling leads to the Green Party getting more support due to its clear and non-compromising Anti-Fascist message.
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