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As part of the 2024 Jewish Political Voices Project we’ve sought to ask Jewish voters from across the country and across the political spectrum about the issues they see as important in the 2024 presidential election.
In our first update, respondents talked about their preferred candidate, Biden’s response to Gaza and the relative fitness of each candidate, among other issues. This time around, while Trump and his recent conviction are on the minds of voters, what most captured the attention of our respondents was Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27th. In the nationally televised spectacle, former president Trump came off as uncharacteristically collected, while president Biden exhibited what many worried was cognitive decline, causing many Democrats to call for his resignation as presumptive Democratic nominee.
In this update, seven JPVP respondents spoke about Trump, Biden and the debate—how it all will affect their votes this coming November.
Aaron Weissman, Montana
“The Democrats are set to nominate a corpse and the Republicans, a con man. I do not believe that Biden has the ability to carry out the responsibilities of his office. If Biden is the candidate and wins, I fear that we will have a situation similar to the one faced by our county after Wilson suffered his stroke. We can’t afford that. I still will be voting against Trump, regardless, as he is an existential threat to the continued rule of law.”
Read the full post here.
Ushi Teitelbaum, New York
“Biden should be replaced immediately for the sake of the country. I was very surprised at his condition, because I watched the State of the Union. He was very good. He was on board.
He was on target. He was on his game. But this time he looked very bad. You can see something is up with him. His eyes, his face. He looked very tired. He looked like he didn’t even belong up there. It didn’t look presidential at all. He looked like he should have been in a nursing home.”
Read the full post here.
Chesky Blau, New York
“I’m leaning very much in [Trump’s] direction because I don’t know about Biden. You see the video [of the debate]… It’s serious. I don’t know who is running the country. He was a very good senator. I don’t know what to say.”
Read the full post here.
Nina Stanley, Ohio
“I am convinced that the President has the beginning of some cognitive decline. I do not think it was a one-off. Nobody has that bad a night. And my opinion is I want to see him replaced. I believe he’s going to lose, I believe he was losing before the debate. And now I think he’s, we’ll see what the polls are, but I can’t believe it couldn’t get better.”
Read the full post here.
Diana Leygerman, Pennsylvania
“Trump lied nonstop and Biden stumbled the whole time. It was painful to watch. I will say to you what I posted earlier that day, before the debate, You are not voting for a president, you’re voting for an administration. Biden’s cabinet is staffed with competent and educated leaders. Trump’s is staffed with MAGA loyalists and extreme Christian Nationalists who want to destroy our democracy. There’s literally nothing that will make me vote for Trump.”
Read the full post here.
Abby Schachter, Pennsylvania
“I did not watch the debate but the rest of my family did. I am no more optimistic about the election than I was before the debate. I have not changed my mind about voting for Donald Trump for President. ”
Read the full post here.
Adam Witkov, Wisconsin
“I think it’s concerning to have someone that age as Commander in Chief, regardless of it being Biden or anyone. I think it is troubling to have someone at either of their ages work a 20 hour a day job. And I do think that there is more concern about how much actually Biden is doing versus his team around him.”
Read the full post here.
Wondering if your articles about Jewish voters in battleground states named JPVP is really an inside joke at Moment Magazine. JPVP so closely resembles the anti-Israel organization JVP, one can only wonder if this was intentional or coincidental. It would be like a far right magazine coming out with a series of seemingly innocent articles known as the KKKK project.