White Identity and Antisemitism in American Public Opinion During Donald Trump's First Presidency, 2016–2020

Abstract: The ideology of White racial purity has been a mainstay of antisemitism in both Europe and the United States, with White identity politics re-emerging as an important force in American politics in the 2010s. This study tested whether White identity affects attitudes toward Jews using three survey panels from the Voter Study Group, with parallel analyses of Blacks and Muslims. The paper distinguishes White identity from White Supremacy. A strong sense of White identity does not necessarily lead some to believe that Whites are superior to non-Whites, a core element of White supremacist thinking. Results indicate that White identity significantly affects attitudes toward Jews, but the relationship for Jews is weaker than it is for Blacks or Muslims. Ironically, those with the strongest sense of White identity still regarded Jews warmly. The paper also addresses this puzzle, by testing the threat hypothesis. The threat hypothesis argues that before one will view an out-group negatively, one must view that group as a threat to the individual's in-group. Findings indicate weak support for the threat hypothesis, perhaps due to limitations of the data.