Nearly half of Jewish voters believe NY is unsafe for them, shocking poll finds
Nearly half of Jewish voters have felt at risk because of their religious identity while living in the Empire State — while more than a third said that New York is no longer a safe haven for their people, a shocking new poll reveals.
The survey conducted for the pro-Israel New York Solidarity Network found that 44% of the 1,200 Jewish voters in New York City and other counties queried said they have felt unsafe, as did 67% of identifiable Orthodox Jews.
More than a third — 35% — said they agreed with the statement: “New York is no longer a safe haven for Jewish life and the Jewish people.”
Nearly 40% of the same voters said the US is no longer a safe haven for Jews.
The numbers are unsettling given that 1.5 million Jews live in New York state — more than any single place on the globe outside of Israel, the poll takers said.
“That more than a third of registered New York Jewish voters believe New York is no longer a safe haven for Jews should be a five-alarm fire for state and local elected officials,” Sara Forman, executive director of the New York Solidarity Network and Treasurer of Solidarity PAC, said in a statement to The Post Wednesday.
It comes as New York has been hit by a wave of antisemitic hate crimes since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The hate has spilled onto college campuses, where some Jewish students have been left cowering in fear due to anti-Israel protests and antisemitic incidents — including at Cooper Union and at Columbia University, where vandals occupied an academic building.
Many of the masked hoodlums escaped prosecution, and a campaign is now underway to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature to restore a mask ban at public protests to prevent harassers and bigots from hiding their identify and getting away with crimes.
Half of those surveyed by the New York Solidarity Network said they don’t believe New York’s college campuses will do enough to make Jewish students feel safe in the upcoming fall semester, while 42% said they did.
Meanwhile, 86% of respondents said they believe that antisemitism is a serious problem, and 56% have witnessed anti-Jewish hatred on social media and online forums — including 72% of those under the age of 30.
Antisemitic hate crimes are up 45% in 2024, according to NYPD data obtained by The Post in April — with many of the emboldened attacks captured on shocking video.
For instance, the Brooklyn Museum’s director and a number of its Jewish board members last month were targeted by antisemitic vandals who tossed red paint and scrawled “blood on your hands” across their homes.
An inverted red triangle was sprayed on director Anne Pasternak’s co-op apartment building — a symbol used in the past by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets and, more recently, has been spotted at anti-Israel tent encampment protests that plagued university campuses across the country.
An anti-Jewish harasser from Staten Island was recently arrested for allegedly storming a Big Apple subway car and demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands.
A Jewish father of five in Brooklyn was beaten in front of his own home last December during the first night of Hanukkah as his attacker spewed antisemitic vitriol — just two days before another man was robbed of his $2,500 traditional Jewish headpiece in the borough.
The virulent Jew hatred has exploded amid the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, initiated by the terror militia’s sneak attack on the Jewish State.
“Jews have been warning leadership for months, as masked mobs teeming with hatred for Jews crowded outside hospitals and synagogues, defaced the homes of Jewish museum board members, intimidated Jews on the subway and in other public spaces, vandalized Jewish-owned business, overran colleges to ‘occupy’ campuses— all while far-left politicians celebrated this behavior as ‘peaceful’ protest,” Forman said.
“If we do not feel safe here, with the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, how can we feel safe anywhere?” Forman added.
“Community leaders, non-Jewish allies, and elected officials on the state and local level must send a decisive message to the public, and to those elected officials who condone this behavior, that anti-Jewish hatred has no place in New York, without exception or apology.”
The New York Solidarity Network survey conducted by GQR Insights and Action questioned 1,200 registered Jewish voters from May 9-22, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Live phone interviews made up 46% of respondents, while text-to-web surveys made up the other 54%.
Voters from high density Jewish zip codes were interviewed in New York City and select counties: Nassau, Suffolk, Albany, Broome, Erie, Monroe, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Tompkins, Ulster and Westchester.
