Antisemitic Attitudes Across the Ideological Spectrum

• Published date: 01 June 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129221111081
• Author: Eitan Hersh,Laura Royden
• Date: 01 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Political Research Quarterly

2023, Vol. 76(2) 697–711

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10659129221111081

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Antisemitic Attitudes Across the

Ideological Spectrum

Eitan Hersh

1

and Laura Royden

2

Abstract

Concern about antisemitism in the U.S. has grown following recent rises in deadly assaults, vandalism, and harassment.

Public accounts of antisemitism have focused on both the ideological right and left, suggesting a “horseshoe theory”in

which the far left and the far right hold a common set of anti-Jewish prejudicial attitudes that distinguish them from the

ideological center. However, there is little quantitative research evaluating left-wing versus right-wing antisemitism. We

conduct several experiments on an original survey of 3500 U.S. adults, including an oversample of young adults. We

oversampled young adults because unlike other forms of prejudice that are more common among older people, an-

tisemitism is theorized to be more common among younger people. Contrary to the expectation of horseshoe theory,

the data show the epicenter of antisemitic attitudes is young adults on the far right.

Keywords

antisemitism, prejudice, political ideology, young adults, public opinion

Introduction

Antisemitism has become a growing concern in the United

States. Antisemitic hate crimes are frequent (Feinberg

2020). Perceived concerns about the seriousness of an-

tisemitism are high (Smith and Schapiro 2019). Ac-

cording to a 2020 poll, 62% of Americans and 88% of

Jewish Americans consider antisemitism a problem. Over

80% of Jewish identif‌iers agreed in 2020 that antisemitism

had increased over the previous 5 years.

1

The relationship between ideology and antisemitism—

whether the prejudice exists primarily on the political left

or right, or both—has long been debated.

2

Recent public-

facing accounts continue to examine both the right and the

left as hotspots for antisemitism (Weiss 2019;Lipstadt

2019).

Right-wing antisemitism in the U.S. has driven inci-

dents like synagogue shootings in 2018 and 2019. White

nationalists were seen in Charlottesville in 2017 chanting

“Jews will not replace us,”and in the 2021 siege on the

Capitol they were seen with pro-Holocaust parapherna-

lia.

3

Violent right-wing antisemitism has also been re-

surgent in Europe.

4

Violent antisemitic attacks have also

come from the ideological left. For instance, during a

period of warfare between Israel and Palestine in the

spring of 2021, pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. vi-

olently attacked Jewish American diners and pedestrians

in Los Angeles and New York, shouting messages in-

cluding “Fuck Jews.”

5

Recent incidents of violent antisemitism could be

unrepresentative of views in the broader public, but they

could also be extreme manifestations of attitudes com-

monly held among those on ideological extremes. The

recent prevalence of non-violent antisemitism from the

ends of the ideological spectrum may suggest the latter.

On the right, there are many reports of antisemitic ha-

rassment of journalists.

6

On the left, there are reports that

extreme negative views toward Israel are socially ac-

ceptable guises for antisemitic attitudes (Marcus 2007;

Cohen et al. 2011,2009). Democratic President Joe Biden

himself, when he was his party’s nominee for President in

2020, claimed, “Criticism of Israel’s policy is not anti-

Semitism, but too often that criticism from the left morphs

into anti-Semitism.”

7

Anti-Israel activism on college

campuses has been the focus of several accounts of left-

wing antisemitism (Marcus 2007). Donald Trump issued

1

Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

2

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Eitan Hersh, The Green, Tufts University, 108 Packard Hall, Medford,

MA 02155, USA.

Email: Eitan.Hersh@tufts.edu