The Jews of New York didn’t vote for Mamdani
One of the observations I often see from commenters on the right – not so much here, but on other blogs and articles – goes something like this: “I’ll care about anti-Semitism when the Jews stop voting for Democrats.” And while it’s true that until now the majority of Jewish voters have indeed voted for Democrats ever since FDR, it’s by no means as monolithic as many people seem to think.
I’ve tackled that topic before – please see this post as well as this one. Both have quite a few statistics, but the gist of it is that very religious Jews overwhelmingly vote Republican, and other Jews mostly live in blue cities and vote as most other residents of those cities vote, about a third Republican to two-thirds Democrat, and trending more to the Democrat side as time goes on.
And the Jews of Israel have been voting for governments on the right for quite some time now.
In Brooklyn over half of Jews are Orthodox; I’ve gleaned from previous surveys (some cited in my previous posts on the subject) that the vast majority of those people vote for Republicans, and many of the rest vote for more moderate Democrats. The Republicans would not be affecting the Mamdani vote because they ordinarily wouldn’t be voting in a Democratic primary.
Commenter “Jimmy” offered some statistics on the Jewish vote in the NYC primary, among Jewish Democrats who participated:
In fact, the heavily Jewish parts of Brooklyn voted overwhelmingly for Cuomo. From the NYT breakdown:
Midwood 72-20
East Flatbush 62-25
Borough Park 80-11The vote totals in those areas were not large, perhaps because, as neo says, many are not Democrats, but there was a big push among religious and pro-Israel Jews to register as Democrats to vote in the primary. Cuomo even carried the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
There’s also this from the Jerusalem Post:
Saban is a District Leader in New York State’s 45th Assembly District. “This was a massive wake-up call for the Jewish community. Your vote counts, and you can’t sit this out,” Saban told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, in the morning hours after the election, emphasizing the need for Jewish New Yorkers to become more politically engaged. He pointed out the relatively low voter turnout among Jews, with only a small percentage of the community casting ballots in the election. “There are 1.2 or 1.3 million Jews in New York, and probably half of them, if not less, voted in this election. That’s a huge issue.”
Other Jewish New Yorkers believe that many voters did not understand the “ranking” voting system used in the election.
Saban believes Mamdani’s success is rooted in what he perceives as a political miscalculation within the Jewish community. “The Jewish community entrusted Andrew Cuomo with defeating an anti-Semite, and we got screwed,” he stated. “This is what happens when you hide candidates from the voters instead of actively campaigning and fighting for every vote.”
It sounds as though the polls showing Cuomo in the lead – right up until very shortly before the election – lulled Jewish New Yorkers into a false sense of security. Perhaps they will be galvanized into being much more active in the general election.
I’ve seen quite a few statements that indicate that “many” Jews voted for Mamdani. No doubt “many” did – after all, estimates of the Jewish population (including numerous ethnic Jews who are not religious) of NYC range from about one million to about 1.3 million. “Many” can be found in such a large group who would vote for just about anything. But even the majority of New York’s Jewish Democrats did not vote for Mamdani, as the statistics quoted by “Jimmy” from the Times indicate – not even close.
I’ve seen zero evidence that Jews voted for Mamdani in any but small percentages. The estimate I’ve seen is that he got 20% of the vote of Jewish Democrats (see this, for example, but I’ve seen the same figure in many places). So NY Jews rejected him, even Democrats. And yet it seems the perception that Jews voted for him in droves persists.
@ Neo > “And yet it seems the perception that Jews voted for him in droves persists.”
First narrative out the gate usually gets locked into perceptions, although it’s usually the left making it, not the right.
Any assessment about WHO (singular or plural) put out that myth?
The Democrats supporting Mamdani have an interest in hyping his support among Jews to undercut the anti-Semite charges (mostly because those seem to be true).
OTOH, the right & moderate left could be pushing it as a “wake up call” to the Jewish Democrats on where the general election could end up if they don’t get their act together.
It seems that the Jewish Republicans’ best hope is the lesser evil among whatever Democrats are on the final ballot.
Sometimes it seems conservatives are more interested in assigning blame than seeing a situation clearly and finding solutions.
It’s a human failing.
I don’t understand Jews as an “ethnic”. I understand Jews as the source of the Old Ttestament, of Abraham, Isaac, etc, preceded in time and theology by Melchizadek. My sister converted to Judaism when she married into the faith, to keep her inlaws happy, but that died with her divorce, and her ethnicity did not change.
But as ethnics? I respect and admire the keeping of Kosher, but deem that as a religious and cultural feature, not an ethnic one.
Cicero, it’s fairly simple. According to Jewish law, if your parents (specifically your mother) are Jewish, than you are Jewish, regardless of whether you engage in any religious practices or beliefs. Hence the term “nation” to describe the Jewish people. There have always been Jews (usually the majority in fact) who do not practice the religion but retain their Jewish identity. It’s even the majority in Israel.
Having said that, ethnic-only Judaism doesn’t often survive multiple generations because of intermarriage. That’s partly offset by religious Jews having high birth rates, so the population stays reasonably stable.
Cicero:
I wrote a post on the subject recently, here. I hope it answers your questions.
Thanks, Neo. Missed that !
Consider the Irish. They are a type of ethnicity that originated in a geographic area. When many migrated to the US , they were still recognized as ” Irish” – perhaps for several generations. But eventually, more and more intermarry and assimilate and become part of the general racial “white” America. Then they just have some Irish ancestors – but they are not Irish.
Now with the Jews, you have an ancient geographic origin. But much more strongly binding than that you have a religion. Fractured as it may be.
Those who cling closely to the religion for generations remain ” Jews”. Those who do not are in danger of loosing their ” Jewish ” identity. It might take a few generations, but without the religious beliefs they would loose their identity at some point.
Except now, they have recovered the ancient homeland – so that becomes a thing that binds.
As a Christian, I believe there is a lot of Divine action behind the scene that has preserved them as a people.
Probably this is because it’s a primary and only a small percentage of people voted at all.
If anyone is still paying attention at the time, we will learn the true answer after the election for mayor, presuming that someone bothers to poll NYC Jews to find out how they voted.
The votes of Jews, however, except in a few cities, are electorally negligible, there are not many of them to begin with and overwhelmingly concentrated in deep-blue cities. Chasing their votes seems to be to be outdated thinking, as there are other minority blocs that are larger and in places that matter more.
Pew estimated in 2020 about 6 million Jews in the US, 1.5 million of whom say they are not religious. They say a lot more than that of course because of the “who counts” issue.
This website has a different number but breaks down by metro area. New York, Los Angeles, and Miami account for just under half of the total. DC, Philadephia, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, and Detroit account for another quarter, which leaves something like 2 million more scattered across the country.
Jews in America are comparable in size to Chinese Americans and Indian Americans, each at about 5.5 million. It seems hardly anyone spends as much time talking about what Chinese and Indian Americans are going to think, as they spend talking about what Jews are going to think. Especially with Indians I think this a huge mistake, considering where Indians tend to concentrate in the economy. There are increasingly more Indians in C suites and in national office.
Of course Mexican Americans and Black Americans represent far larger shares of the population, each near 12% of the total population. There’s also a lot of outdated thinking on who Mexican Americans actually are and what is likely to appeal to them, but I bet some party is spending bezillions to try to figure it out, either now or very soon. It would be effort much better spent than worrying about if American Jews want to vote for socialist Democrats or not.
While most non Orthodox Jews would vote for Mustache Guy himself if he was running as a Democrat rather than the Republican, 20% is still a sizable chunk considering that their option was another Democrat
Indeed, it’s troubling.
OTOH, Quibono is very damaged goods….
Dbsweets
Good point. However, this case is a bit different. The other dem is Cuomo, with his normal NYC corruption and his Covid body count in the nursing homes plus the lies about it. If there were no other dem running, possibly that twenty percent would have stayed home.
That’s all very well, but the likelihood is that ZM might just win the general and voting against Cuomo would have been irrelevant.
Cuomo’s bad but not so bad that NOBODY COULD POSSIBLY BE WORSE. This is especially true as regards certain issues of concern to Jews, even if of concern to others as well, such as Israel’ s future.
Imagine caring about antisemitism only if and when Jews (supposedly) stop voting a certain way!
MollyG.
To the extent that having to do something about antisemitism that the putative victims don’t seem concerned about…maybe you’re right.
However, the issues are usually more involved. Is communism more important than antisemitism in NYC which has a history but not a catastrophe? If the latter can be considered like the weather, the former is the issue in question.
It would be the Jews acting as they have all along, since they’ve been subject to a certain level of antisemitism and have gotten along and don’t expect things to change either way, no matter how they vote. That might not be the smart thing to do, especially in the current situation, but what would voting do about it?
I have no idea how Jews in NYC perceive the usual level of antisemitism, not do I know if they think there’s anything they can do about it, politically or otherwise.
But if, as I say, they see it like the weather, then Cuomo’s offenses would be more obvious, more graphic, and more subject to political activity such as voting. So, you may as well.
In any event, I suspect that if Cuomo had not been running, the twenty percent would have stayed home. Another ZM….seen them come and go. Nothing changes. One can hope.
well wilhelm, aka deblasio, the sandalista, and his very interesting cohort, were enough damage to the city, I dubbed him mayor bane, after the villain in the batman films,
the arrogance of the Gotham democratic party, they couldn’t find anyone respectable, meaning someone who didn’t have blood on their hands, with Cuomo thats not a metaphor, keep Eric Adams, on the ballot, I know evil orange man, sarc, but also have they not seen what the city had deteorated into, that might be rhetorical if they read the Times or watch Morning Joe,
From the “Heh” File…
“New York Times Struggles To Explain Why It Reported News To Traumatized Readers”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-york-times-struggles-explain-why-it-reported-news-traumatized-readers
…or maybe not….
Opening grafs:
I wonder to what extent the Democrat establishment is worried about Mamdani, that he is so radical he would be toxic to the Democrat brand.
_____________________________________
“For moderates and wealthy Democratic donors, the reaction is, this is horrible and it’s going to ruin us. For center-left Democrats who don’t necessarily support Mamdani’s policies, the reaction is, this is a rejection of the Democratic establishment…” said Tim Lim, a Democratic strategist and fundraiser.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/26/democrats-mamdani-win-factions-reaction-00425096
_____________________________________
I think back to the 2020 Dem primaries, when it looked like Bernie Sanders was going to win the nomination. Suddenly, all the other candidates but Biden dropped out. Clearly Dem power players had been at work behind the scenes.
The NYC Mayor’s race is a different situation, but I wonder if the Democrat leadership might find a way to pull the plug on Mamdani.
Meanwhile heavy-hitters—like Governor Hochul, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Hakeem Jeffries—have largely remained silent, avoiding endorsements of Mamdani and signaling discomfort.
Related: the housing crisis angle…
Homes for hipsters;
“From Zohran Mamdani to the YIMBYs, the leading figures in the housing debate have little to offer most Americans.”—
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/07/05/homes-for-hipsters/
H/T Powerline blog.
Mamdani’s history is at least not hidden. (Dang the digital age, lol!)
Last Dec., Mamdani had posted a performance by some Indian group mocking Hannukah.
Also:
His father has claimed that Hitler got the notion for the Holocaust from President Lincoln.
Quite a messed up “educated” family.
May God spare NYC, and America.
Actually, if Schicklgruber got it from anyone he got it from the Ottoman Turks; but Dear Old Dad is, after all, Columbia University professor so I guess he’s allowed to make up his own “contextualities”…or whatever…kinda like the illustrious Joseph Massad, the eminent Rashid Khalidi…or the Godfather of ‘em all, the exalted Edward Said…
Lordy, what a crew!
This analysis isn’t quite right. Although Orthodox Jews are right leaning, they generally register as Democrats in NYC because often the only meaningful election is the primary, especially the very local portion of the election (State legislature and City Council).
However, in this case there was another factor. Cuomo is widely recognized as an antisemite in the Orthodox community in the city. He scapegoated the Orthodox Jews as spreaders of Covid and discriminated against neighborhoods with large Orthodox populations even if the covid instances were the same or lower than some other areas.
And in this campaign he threw out dog whistles in his advertisements to those times (“I protected the city from Covid and those who spread it”).
So while he basically admitted to and apologized for his mistreatment of the Orthodox Jewish community when he was Governor when he went to request endorsements of Orthodox Jewish community groups, nobody thought much of it.
So from the Orthodox Jewish perspective, there were two antisemites on the ballot and one or the other was inevitably going to win, so they stayed home.
yes Mamdani pere, seems to be of the Tariq Ali/Edward Said school of crazy, thats what the Spectator seemed to have ascertained, yes Cuomo happened to ring all the stupid bells and yet still came close to winning, the man has no shame, he didn’t protect anybody in fact, he found ways to torment every group of person, you can imagine, and yet blacks and latinos turned out for him, the most quixotic character was Brad Lander, who tried to be the immigration advocate, and embarassed himself to no small degree,
then again the Garden State didn’t fall to Baraka fils mau mau games, I know this was a much larger electorate, and in a slightly different time frame, so there is a capacity for rational choice, across the Hudson,’
they are a piece of work, Abraham Lincoln and Hitler,
good grief, of course