Jeff Michaels: Reluctantly Voting for the Democratic Ticket

"I am kind of mortified that these are the two best candidates that are out there."
By | Sep 17, 2024
JPVP 2024
Smiling man with short salt and pepper hair and a goatee wearing a black T-shirt

This interview is part of Moment’s Jewish Political Voices Project. To learn more about the project, click here. To see our other participants, click here. To see all posts from Jeff, click here.


Age: 56
Occupation: Hedge-fund portfolio manager

Location: Mountain Lakes, NJ
Party Registration: Independent
Jewish Denomination: Conservative
Current 2024 Vote: Kamala Harris
2020 Vote: Joe Biden
Family: Married; seven children
News Sources:
The New York Times, Bloomberg, X (formerly Twitter)

Who are you voting for and why?

I am voting for the Democratic ticket, mainly because I don’t trust the Republican agenda when it comes to the Supreme Court, rights, constitutional law, those types of issues. But I would add the word “reluctantly”—I’m reluctantly voting for the Democratic ticket. I would prefer to vote for a moderate Republican over Kamala Harris, 100 percent. I do not like the Democratic economic policies. I don’t like student loan forgiveness. It’s just the whole lack of fiscal responsibility. If I were only voting on the issues of fiscal responsibility, the economy, sustainability, I would vote for any Republican right now. But we’re in an existential crisis with the Constitution, and that probably trumps the fiscal issues of the present day. But l hope that we have other options longer term. Right now, if it were just a matter of the economy, I would vote for Trump.

I am kind of mortified that these are the two best candidates that are out there. The way we wound up with Harris on the ticket isn’t really fair. Nobody voted for her. It wasn’t like the president died in office. So for her to be the candidate without a single primary does make me upset. 

What is your greatest hope if Harris is elected and greatest fear if she isn’t?

My greatest hope if Harris is elected is that she will have her own economic policies that differ from the current Biden administration. She could steer us toward fiscal responsibility and surround herself with people who believe in that agenda, which is tough in the Democratic Party right now. My greatest fear is that she continues on the path that the Democrats have been going down, which is just making every constituent happy by giving them money. My greatest fear, if Trump gets elected, is the continued crippling of institutions that provide checks and balances. We’ve seen it with the Supreme Court. I don’t have much hope for Trump changing. But my hope would be to have a more traditional presidency, where he surrounds himself with smart people and actually does the best for the country without becoming  totalitarian—where he thinks he can do anything he wants. But I really don’t have much hope for that.

Which candidate would be better for U.S. policy toward Israel?

Trump would be, and the only reason I say that is because he’s willing to use the U.S. dollar for diplomacy. And given the amount of support Israel gets from us, I think Trump would force a solution, whereas the Democrats aren’t as forceful. I could see Trump saying, “OK, we will give you this much military support. And if you want that to continue, this is the settlement you have to steer yourself toward.” So I could see Trump doing that if he felt it was in his interest. I can’t see the Democrats strong-arming Israel much.

How concerned are you about antisemitism at home?

It’s definitely on the rise. And obviously it’s on the rise everywhere, not just in the United States. I don’t know that either candidate is going to solve that. The Democratic Party tends to go for underdogs, and it thinks Palestine is the underdog, which kind of fuels antisemitism. The left-wing “Squad” members of Congress, who are pro-Palestinian, certainly fuel antisemitism, but I don’t think either presidential candidate is going to solve it. This is just the global world we live in.

Are you concerned about the future of democracy in the United States and political violence post-election?

Look, obviously there’s a lot of fear out there. I think it’s more of a long-term problem than short-term. I don’t think we’re going to turn on a dime after the election and have a totalitarian government. I think it will be a gradual degradation, which we’ve already been seeing. As far as political violence, we just had an assassination attempt on Trump, and so I do think there’s rightfully fear of more on both sides.

Do you think the country is in for a tough time politically no matter who wins?

 I’m originally from New York, so I go back to the days when Democratic Senator Pat Moynihan and Republican Senator Alfonse D’Amato were working on policy together across the aisle. We haven’t had that in 20 to 30 years. Now the Democrats are going more to the left and the Republicans are going more right. I don’t see how this country could not be in for a far more difficult time.

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