Wading Through the Difficult Choices in the Upcoming Presidential Election
It’s no secret that a significant portion of the electorate is not satisfied with either candidate running for president. In fact, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 87 percent of respondents say that given the high level of negativity and lack of serious focus on policy positions during the campaign, it does not make them proud of our country. Some observant Jews share these sentiments with the rest of the nation, struggling to determine who to vote for as election day nears.
Although respondents’ viewpoints and reasoning ran the gamut, there was one point on which they all agreed. Neither candidate was someone they could enthusiastically embrace. Even those solidly in Donald Trump’s camp voiced harsh criticism of his character and antics, and those saying they would be pulling the lever for Kamala Harris universally shared an unease as to what she really stood for and how she would govern.
A few offered that they were still undecided, but that the choice was between Harris or a write-in candidate or whether or not to even vote. For those planning to pull the lever for either major candidate, it often boiled down to whether Jewish values or perceived support for Israel during troubled times took precedence. Let’s dig in.
“His middot have really shaken me over the years,” said Ariel Segal of Silver Springs, Md., about the Republican candidate.
“He does not represent anything I believe in,” added Sarah Rudolph of Cleveland, Ohio. “I don’t trust him to do anything that’s right for anyone but himself and am horrified at the prospect of him being in there again.”
Elaine Kaufman of Fair Lawn, N.J., who plans to vote for Trump, also took issue with his character, saying, “I don’t care for him as a human being.” She added, however, that regarding policy positions important to her, “Harris is a scary prospect.”
HD, a self-identified independent from New York who prefers to remain anonymous, offered, “Everyone in New York knows him. He exploits women, breaks contracts, cheats people – issur after issur. It hurts my soul to think about it.” Interestingly, he added that if Trump’s policies were coming from a different person, he would strongly consider voting for that candidate, “but I can’t justify supporting him to my kids.”
Not all the concerns about Trump revolved around Jewish values. “I swore off Trump after January 6 when he didn’t accept the election results,” stated Harrison Newman of Long Island, who is undecided about whether he will vote. “I would vote for a strong conservative candidate, but Trump isn’t one,” he continued.
Segal voiced similar concerns when he said, “Middos aren’t the only thing with Trump, but how he disregards the norms of society. I want to ensure that America maintains its constitutional order and respect for the rule of law.”
Even more blunt was Etai Lahav of New York. “It’s embarrassing as an American that this clown is running. He has no respect for the system.”
As for Israel, Segal said, “I just don’t think he’s dependable. If an Arab leader flattered him enough, he could easily flip.” Lahav also didn’t agree with the conventional wisdom that Trump would definitely be better for Israel. “He could be the best thing short term or the worst, but longer term, as the country becomes more divided, he could be dangerous as those who oppose him will grow their resentment against Israel as well.”
TG – a self-proclaimed “longtime Never Trump Republican” from New Jersey, who nonetheless said he has hakaras hatov to Trump for the many pro-Israel things he did while in office – agreed. “When Jared Kushner was the one whispering in Trump’s ear, you could depend on the administration to be stridently supportive of Israel,” he said. “But if Don Jr. is the one whispering now, I wouldn’t be as confident.”
In regard to Harris, although not voiced quiet as strongly, several highly negative themes emerged as well, even from those considering voting for her. “I fundamentally don’t know who she is and don’t know what I’m getting,” said Lahav. “We could be pleasantly surprised or devastated.”
Newman flatly offered, “I’m not comfortable with Harris as president.” HD said, “I have absolutely no idea what she stands for on immigration, criminal reform or anything else. Every issue where she took a stand one way, she went the other way when it became unpopular.”
Others weren’t as generous. David Schwartz of Fair Lawn, N.J., a Trump supporter, insisted, “Those who say it’s unknown what Harris will do are wrong. She has a track record.” Newman was even more blunt: “I don’t feel comfortable with what she stands for. When she initially ran for president [in 2019], she had extreme views and ran a horrific campaign.” He went on to say, “She keeps reinventing herself. The only thing concrete was her choice of VP and it doesn’t show her to be a moderate. If she had picked Josh Shapiro or Mark Kelly, I probably would have voted for her.”
Some homed in on specific policy positions of Harris. Kaufman said, “On a domestic level, she hasn’t proven herself at all. She failed as the immigration czar, has been pretty incompetent for four years, yet is being paraded around like a queen.” Schwartz expressed concerns regarding the scourge of antisemitism in this country and how it may be handled by Harris. “The current administration has been less than neutral regarding antisemitism. There isn’t a strong enough refutation to what’s happening on campuses. Antisemitism is always equated with Islamophobia. They are not the same.” He took strong issue with how immigration has been managed and could potentially continue to be managed under Harris. “A porous border feeds into so many negative consequences such as a declining economy and increased crime,” he explained. “There’s no reason it wasn’t secured all along.”
Although Segal suggested that Harris seems relatively pragmatic, many of the others, even those, as noted earlier, who would never vote for Trump, tended to speak more favorably of him on policy. This was particularly true in regard to Israel. Schwartz launched into a list of actions taken during Trump’s term in office that were unmatched by any other president. These included moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, officially recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and creating an environment that allowed for the Abraham Accords. Kaufman believes that Israel will be more unencumbered under Trump, criticizing Harris’s overuse of the word “but,” such as “Israel has a right to defend itself but can’t attack targets in Iran.”
Trump was also given the nod on his economic policies, with Schwartz saying, “They have been brash and important.” He explained that Trump “imposed tariffs on China that Biden has kept in place, and forced NATO to ante up their fair share.” Kaufman added, “Under Trump we didn’t have inflation. He knew how to be tough with our enemies – who were afraid of him – and he didn’t talk out of two sides of his mouth.”
Even Kaufman conceded that Trump’s personality gets in the way, making him “completely distasteful in every way.” She would have been happier with almost any other candidate on the Republican side, specifically mentioning Nikki Haley, a name that was offered up by others as well.
Although vice-presidential choices were virtually ignored, for one respondent, Harrison Newman, it was a key window into what to expect. He gave the thumbs down for both candidates’ choices. Vance, he said, “was running for what Trump wants” and “It’s a scary thought that he chose someone more extreme than him.” For Harris, he felt her choice of Walz, the most progressive of the finalists for VP, showed that she too didn’t have moderation in mind.
Of interest was the comment by some that since they live in New York or New Jersey, states that are not in play, it’s easy to take the moral high ground and not vote for Trump. “I have the luxury of not having the pull the lever for either,” said TG, who added that in 2015 he had initially loathed Hillary Clinton so much that he would have voted for any Republican over her. And then Trump became the nominee. “G-d has a sense of humor,” he said. He ended up voting for her.
In 2020, he voted for Biden, but admitted that with Israel being in a more precarious position than it has since perhaps its creation, he now understands the mentality of many earlier Trump supporters. Even still, TG said that he still can’t vote for Trump, because he’s “a clown who has undermined election integrity – vital if we’re going to continue to have a functioning democracy – far more than any other president in the last 100 years, perhaps ever.”
Both Lahav and HD noted that if they lived in a swing state where their vote could make a difference, it would be a much more difficult choice, particularly, as noted by HD, with the situation in Israel.
Bill Weiner of Bergen County, N.J. more or less summed up some of the struggles facing the Orthodox Jewish voter with his comment “I can give you 1,000 reasons not to vote for Trump, but I’m worried about Israel.”
So what will those still unsure do when they enter the voting booth on Nov. 5? TG, for one, ultimately decided whom to vote for. “I promised my vote to my 8-year-old daughter, and I intend to keep that promise,” he said.
