Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is rapidly losing support among a key demographic in yet another re-election setback for the five-term senator’s re-election campaign.
According to a new poll from the Honan Strategy Group’s (HSG), which was conducted for the Jewish Voters Action Network (JVAC), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) would crush Schumer in a hypothetical Senate primary match-up.
Ocasio-Cortez, 35, leads Schumer among Jewish Democrats 45 percent to 33 percent, the poll found. An additional 17 percent of respondents remain undecided.
“This is a massive wake-up call for Schumer,” Maury Litwack, co-founder of Jewish Voters Action Network, told the New York Post. “He’s not only bleeding support in the Democratic Party overall but also in the Jewish community.”
The result is particularly alarming for Schumer, who is Jewish and has traditionally relied on Jewish voters as a key block of support throughout his decades-long career on Capitol Hill. Schumer, 74, is next up for re-election in 2028.
According to Litwack, the results appear to indicate declining support for Schumer rather than increased enthusiasm for AOC. The progressive congresswoman has long been one of the most vocal Israel critics in Congress and has accused the Israeli government of committing “genocide” over its military operations in the Gaza Strip, which were launched in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks in 2023.
Litwack expressed more disappointment with Schumer’s lack of response to protest movements that erupted in response to the war than AOC’s criticisms of Israel, however. “The leading Jewish elected official in the nation did not step up in a moment of rising antisemitism — and the poll reflects that,” he said.
The JVAC co-founder said Schumer failed to pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act last year despite the fact that Democrats held control of the White House and the U.S. Senate, where Schumer was serving as majority leader. Litwack also noted that Schumer was accused of advising Columbia University to ignore accusations of antisemitism, which was referenced in a House investigative report on campus anti-Israel protests despite Schumer’s denial of the claims.
In addition to declining support among Jewish voters, the longtime party Senate leader faced widespread criticism from Democrat voters and lawmakers for refusing to shut down the government earlier this year. Schumer ultimately agreed to pass a six-month government funding bill rather than take a more aggressive stance against President Donald Trump, something AOC and other progressives wanted despite railing against Republicans for threatening government shutdowns in recent years.
“I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the time. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats.”
“This is across the board, the entire party. There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States, who walked the plank and took innumerable risks… just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk. I think it is a huge slap in the face.”
The JVAC poll comes just weeks after a separate survey from Data for Progress found Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) leading Schumer by a whopping 19 points in a hypothetical 2028 Democratic primary matchup.
Those numbers weren’t an outlier either, as the poll found Schumer had the highest disapproval rating of any Democratic figure tested. By contrast, Ocasio-Cortez had one of the highest favorables, trailing only Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
