By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

Zohran Mamdani’s stunning ascent to the mayoralty of New York City has ignited unprecedented levels of unease within the American Jewish community, according to new data released in the Jewish People Policy Institute’s November Voice of the Jewish People Index. The findings, which capture the mood of American Jews only days after the election, reveal a sharply heightened perception that the incoming mayor is not merely hostile to Israel but openly antagonistic toward Jews themselves. As Israel National News reported on Thursday, the JPPI’s newest metric shows the steepest spike ever recorded since the index began tracking attitudes toward Mamdani earlier this year.

The survey, conducted November 14–15 among 745 American Jews registered to JPPI’s ongoing panel, found that nearly two-thirds of respondents—an extraordinary 64 percent—now believe Mamdani is both anti-Israel and antisemitic. This represents the highest level of distrust measured since the question was introduced in July 2025 and illustrates the degree to which Mamdani’s victory is being viewed not as a routine political transition but as a seismic event with profound communal ramifications.

Another 19 percent regard him as anti-Israel but not antisemitic, a distinction that maintains little practical comfort for a community watching political rhetoric and antisemitic incidents rise in tandem. Just 9 percent view him as neither anti-Israel nor antisemitic, a figure so small that it underscores how deeply Mamdani’s reputation has already calcified among most American Jews.

Israel National News, summarizing the emerging trend lines reflected in the JPPI data, noted that the predominant emotional response to Mamdani’s victory is “concern”—a sentiment reported by 56 percent of respondents. Yet the emotional landscape revealed by the survey is even more lopsided than that single figure suggests. Hope, at 13 percent, registers primarily among strong liberals, while fear, at 11 percent, and sadness, at 7 percent, add further weight to the overwhelmingly negative mood. In total, an astonishing 84 percent of respondents reported a negative emotional reaction to the election. The emotional intensity reflected in these findings, Israel National News observed, signals that the Jewish community views this political development as intimately connected to its sense of vulnerability and future stability.

That vulnerability is not merely emotional. A clear majority of respondents—67 percent—believe Mamdani’s election will diminish the security of Jewish communities in New York. Only a minuscule 6 percent believe security will improve under his administration. Here too the partisan breakdown mirrors the broader ideological polarization shaping American politics. Conservatives, both strong and leaning, register nearly unanimous anxiety, with 93 percent expecting a decline in Jewish security. Centrists, often the bellwether of communal mood, show similarly high levels of pessimism at 86 percent. Even among respondents who lean liberal, 61 percent foresee reduced security under Mamdani.

In the strong liberal cohort, the picture is more fractured. While 32 percent expect a decline in security, 35 percent predict no change, and 19 percent even foresee an improvement—figures that reflect the ideological sympathy many progressives feel toward Mamdani’s political identity. Yet even among the segment most favorably inclined toward the new mayor, fewer than one-fifth believe the Jewish community will become safer under his administration.

The broader perception of Mamdani himself maps tightly onto this ideological terrain. Among conservatives—both those who lean right and those who identify strongly—belief that Mamdani is both anti-Israel and antisemitic reaches near unanimity, rising to 96 percent among strong conservatives. That distrust persists among moderates as well, though with slightly more variation.

Within the strong liberal cohort, however, the picture is markedly different: 35 percent view him as anti-Israel but not antisemitic, while 24 percent believe he is neither anti-Israel nor antisemitic. The ideological divide is equally evident when responses are sorted by presidential vote choice. Ninety-six percent of Trump voters see Mamdani as both antisemitic and anti-Israel, whereas among Harris voters the figure drops to 47 percent. Notably, nearly a third of Harris voters view Mamdani as anti-Israel but not antisemitic, while 12 percent think he is neither.

As the Israel National News report emphasized, the JPPI’s November index reflects not only reactions to Mamdani’s election but a wider climate of anxiety over the future of Jewish life in America. A near-unanimous 99 percent of respondents expressed worry about rising antisemitism in the United States, a statistic that carries enormous weight given the escalating incidents across campuses, social media, and metropolitan centers over the past two years. The question of where the greatest threat originates is itself revealing. Sixty-two percent of respondents say they worry equally about antisemitism from the left and the right—a reflection of a political era where ideological extremism has multiplied and where anti-Jewish animus has emerged in both anti-Israel progressive circles and in certain corners of populist right-wing activism.

Ideology again shapes perception. Strong liberals tend to fear antisemitism from the right—45 percent say it represents the greater threat. Strong conservatives, by contrast, overwhelmingly identify the left as the primary source of antisemitic danger, with 57 percent pointing to progressive movements and anti-Israel activism as the central problem. Centrists, perhaps the most sober evaluators of the landscape, overwhelmingly state that both sides pose equal concern, with 78 percent refusing to privilege one ideological direction over the other. As the Israel National News report noted, this bipartisan anxiety reflects a moment of profound instability, in which the communal consensus that once separated criticism of Israel from animus toward Jews has eroded dramatically.

The JPPI survey devotes significant attention to the conceptual relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism—a question that sits at the center of contemporary debates and which has become increasingly salient in public discourse since October 7, 2023. According to the survey, a substantial majority of respondents—72 percent—believe anti-Zionism is either “definitely” or “usually” a form of antisemitism. Only 17 percent believe anti-Zionism is antisemitic only under certain circumstances, while 11 percent view the two concepts as entirely unrelated.

However, ideological fissures once again define differences in interpretation. Among strong liberals, only 44 percent see anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism, compared with 92 percent of strong conservatives—a disparity that mirrors broader political polarization around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Similar divides emerge when respondents are asked whether they view Zionism itself as racist.

A majority, 59 percent, state that Zionism contains no racist elements whatsoever. Yet 28 percent concede that some interpret it as racist even if they personally do not agree, while 8 percent say Zionism contains racist elements and 4 percent go as far as to characterize Zionism as racism. When asked what they believe “the average American” thinks, respondents portray a more critical picture of public perception: only 8 percent think the average American sees Zionism as entirely non-racist, while sizable segments believe Americans view Zionism as either potentially racist or outright racist.

Despite these divergent interpretations, the survey finds a robust identification with Zionism within the sample. Seventy percent of respondents describe themselves as Zionist, with an additional 12 percent saying they are not Zionists but support Zionism. Only 3 percent identify as anti-Zionist, a figure that underscores just how unusual Mamdani’s victory appears to most American Jews and why it has awakened such acute communal concern. As the Israel National News report observed, this overwhelming identification with Zionism helps explain the intensity of the reaction to Mamdani’s election, given his long record of harsh criticisms of Israel and his refusal to condemn slogans widely interpreted as calls for violence against Jews.

The JPPI also explored the question of communal boundaries—who should and should not be welcomed within American Jewish spaces. This issue has grown particularly contentious as divisions over Israel have deepened and as anti-Zionist Jewish figures have gained greater prominence on university campuses and in progressive movements.

The survey reveals that 44 percent of respondents believe Jewish communities should reject or exclude anti-Israel Jews, while 34 percent favor inclusion and 22 percent remain unsure. In contrast, the desire for inclusion of pro-Israel Jews is nearly universal: 94 percent think pro-Israel Jews should be included, and only 2 percent call for their exclusion. For many respondents, anti-Israel activism crosses a red line that places individuals outside the boundaries of communal belonging—another indicator, as noted by Israel National News, of how Mamdani’s election has crystallized communal anxieties about identity, loyalty, and safety.

The survey also probed American Jewish views on U.S.–Israel relations in the tense aftermath of the recent Gaza ceasefire and amid intensified American involvement in regional diplomacy. A plurality, 37 percent, believe Israel is adjusting to American positions at the right pace. Yet 30 percent say Israel is adapting too much to U.S. pressure, including those who think Israel is giving ground “more than it should” or even “far more than it should.” Conversely, 13 percent believe Israel is not adapting enough. These responses reflect the complicated balance American Jews perceive between defending Israeli autonomy and maintaining U.S. strategic alignment. As the Israel National News report called attention to, this is a period in which American expectations and Israeli security imperatives increasingly collide.

On the question of President Donald Trump’s handling of Middle East policy, the community remains sharply divided. Fifty-five percent of respondents believe he has done a good job handling affairs in the region, yet a sizable 74 percent say he has not performed well in managing domestic U.S. affairs. Conservatives overwhelmingly approve of his performance both domestically and abroad, while strong liberals overwhelmingly reject it. The claim that Trump is the “most pro-Israel president ever” garners limited support among liberals but finds near-unanimous endorsement among conservatives—another reflection of the profound ideological split that has transformed the American political landscape since 2016.

The survey additionally asked respondents about preferred political outcomes within Israel itself. Thirty-eight percent favor a new Israeli government composed of current opposition parties, while 26 percent prefer a joint government of coalition and opposition forces. Only 18 percent endorse continuation of the current government. These internal preferences reinforce the broader sense that American Jews, despite their diversity, overwhelmingly desire political stability and institutional moderation in Israel—yet feel increasingly distant from the ideological volatility shaping Israeli politics.

As the December holiday season approaches, the survey closes on a note of cultural continuity: 82 percent of respondents plan to light Hanukkah candles on all eight nights, with another 11 percent participating on some nights. The JPPI notes, however, that its panel tends to include Jews who are more engaged in community life than the broader American Jewish population, a factor that may elevate observance levels. Still, the degree of commitment to ritual practice provides a stark contrast to the pervasive anxieties reflected elsewhere in the survey.

Israel National News, in its analysis of the JPPI report, emphasized that Mamdani’s victory has become a psychologically defining moment for American Jews—a political event that has crystallized broader fears about antisemitism, ideological extremism, and the erosion of communal safety in major urban centers. For many respondents, Mamdani’s election is not simply a local political development but a symbolic turning point, one that signals the normalization of anti-Israel rhetoric and, in their view, the legitimization of sentiments that too often cross the line into antisemitic hostility.

Whether those fears prove prescient or exaggerated remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that Mamdani enters office facing an American Jewish community that is watching with unusual intensity, mistrust, and apprehension. The JPPI’s November findings, amplified in the reporting of Israel National News, paint a portrait of a community feeling newly exposed in a political environment it increasingly perceives as hostile. For Jewish New Yorkers—and for American Jews nationwide—the election of Zohran Mamdani has become a referendum not merely on ideology but on identity, security, and the future of Jewish life in America’s most iconic city.