Abstract
This paper uses the feeling thermometer toward Jews on the American National Election (ANES) surveys from 1964 through 2016 to track trends in Americans’ attitudes toward Jews. The feeling thermometer is one of the longest continuous time series studies in which Americans are asked about their attitudes toward Jews, and there are items on the ANES surveys that can be used to partially correct for social desirability response effects. The analysis compares several demographic groups, an important focus of extant research. Findings indicate a modest warming trend for most groups, with older Americans and the least educated displaying the greatest warmth increases. In contrast, Catholics have become slightly cooler. Analysis suggests that the immigration of Catholics from Latin America, nations that lack the religious tolerance tradition, may account for this counter-trend. The conclusion offers suggestions for future research and discusses the implications of the rising proportion of Hispanic immigrants into the US for future levels of antisemitism in the US.
Highlights
There appears to be little antisemitism in American public opinion, quite a departure from the 1940s and early 1950s, when large percentages of voters held such attitudes (Smith 1996).1For example, Gordon W
Fewer think Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States: 30% said Jewish loyalty resided with Israel in 1964 compared to 21% in 2000 (Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith 1964; Newsweek 2000)
This paper turns to the American National Election Study (ANES), which has been asking respondents since 1964 to rate Jews on a feeling thermometer scale
Summary
There appears to be little antisemitism in American public opinion, quite a departure from the 1940s and early 1950s, when large percentages of voters held such attitudes (Smith 1996).. This paper turns to the American National Election Study (ANES), which has been asking respondents since 1964 to rate Jews on a feeling thermometer scale.. This paper follows the long research tradition on mass public antisemitism in the US by looking at demographic groups emphasized in that research and for which the ANES has collected comparable respondent data across as much as the series as possible (e.g., race, age, gender, religion, partisanship, and education). This study discusses several measurement issues in using surveys for detecting antisemitic attitudes in the mass public, which is rarely done in research on antisemitism either in the US or other locales. This investigation hopefully will inform future research on how to better measure antisemitism in survey questions. This paper focuses on how changing levels of antisemitism within groups and changes in the relative population size of groups may affect national, aggregate levels of antisemitism
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