Opinion: Orthodox Jewish voters are not monolithic

If the recent election demonstrated anything, it’s that assuming a particular demographic will vote a particular way is a fool’s errand.

Democrats lost ground with voters under 30, in some states by double-digits. Latino voters swung surprisingly sharply to the right. Black voters still supported Democrats, but in lower numbers than in the past. 

Older voters, usually regarded as a solid Republican voting bloc, surprisingly shifted away from Trump in the majority of the swing states.

One demographic – and it’s one that is rapidly growing and whose members take voting very seriously – that has long confounded assumptions is the Orthodox Jewish community. Take, for example, New York state – the state that sports the largest Orthodox population in the country. According to the 2023 Jewish population study conducted by UJA-Federation of New York, there are approximately 430,000 Orthodox Jews in New York. And overwhelmingly that community sends their school age children to yeshivas and Jewish day schools. Based on the latest figures available from the state Education Department there are 568 Jewish schools in New York encompassing 185,583 students, the large majority of them Orthodox.

Orthodox Jews are assumed, and not unreasonably, to be socially conservative. By definition, conservatism implies fealty to tradition, and one doesn’t get more tradition-minded than “frum” – the Yiddish term for observant – Jews.

At the same time, though, Orthodox voters are not party-bound; and, above all, they are politically sophisticated and pragmatic. They know the issues that matter most to them and vote accordingly, regardless of what party happens to be pushing for – or against – their stance on an issue of concern.

Thus, while the Orthodox community was one of the president-elect’s most reliable constituencies, voted for him in high numbers, and supports school choice, it also values, and advocates on behalf of, social services such as SNAP eligibility, Section 8 Housing vouchers and other such issues that may be threatened during the incoming administration.

In New York state, Agudath Israel, the Orthodox nonprofit I serve, advocates for issues as varied as educational independence and funding for yeshivas and other non-public schools, as well as universal free lunch for all schoolchildren. On criminal justice issues, Orthodox groups were among the leading advocates in pushing for the First Step Act during the first Trump administration. And on housing, Agudath Israel's housing division has developed and managed hundreds of units of affordable housing in Brooklyn.

Orthodox Jews may break a glass under wedding canopies, but they have also broken political glass ceilings. 

This legislative season, there will be a record 9 Orthodox Jews in the state legislature, seven of them Democrats, even as some of them are also cross endorsed by the Conservative Party.

Illustrative of the nonpartisan, issues-oriented stance of the Orthodox community is the fact that, in many areas the Orthodox voters went overwhelmingly for Trump yet voted strongly for local Democrats whom they felt represented their interests. Consider a few examples.

• In the 23rd Assembly District in the Orthodox neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Trump received 69% of the vote while Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato, a Democrat, amassed 84%. In fact, in the heaviest Orthodox precinct there, Trump received 940 votes to 159 for Kamala Harris, while the Assembly vote yielded almost the complete inverse: 950 for Pheffer-Amato to 140 for her Republican opponent.
• In the 27th Assembly District in Queens, 69% of votes in majority Orthodox precincts went to Trump and 67% to Democrat Sam Berger.
• In Sullivan County, which sports a growing year round orthodox community, while Trump and Republican former Congressman Marc Molinaro won the overwhelming share of the orthodox votes, newly elected Assembly Member Paula Kay received approximately 70% of the nearly 3,000 orthodox votes, while winning the county by a mere 213 votes.
• In the Orthodox enclave of Kiryas Joel, while Trump received over 90% of the vote for president, Congressman Pat Ryan, State Sen. James Skoufis, and Assemblymember Chris Eachus all prevailed as Democrats.
• It was similar in the 97th district in Rockland County where Trump scored high and Democrat Aron Wieder won the Assembly race. 

The upshot: As we enter the current legislative session, savvy public servants (and aspirants to public service) of whatever party would do well to engage with communities of faith, prominently including the Orthodox Jewish community, with an eye to partnering with them on issues where common ground can be found. 

Because the orthodox representatives and the constituency they represent are fully focused on the future.