Poll: less than quarter of Australians view attitudes to Jews as positive

Less than a quarter of Australians describe public attitudes towards Jews as positive, while one in five young people report witnessing antisemitic incidents in their area, according to new polling released amid record levels of antisemitism.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) survey of 1000 respondents, conducted between June 27 and July 1, found only 24 per cent of Australians would describe general public attitudes to Jewish people as very positive (nine per cent) or slightly positive (15 per cent).

By contrast, 28 per cent of respondents described attitudes towards Jews as very negative (eight per cent) or slightly negative (20 per cent), while the remainder were neutral or unsure.

The polling revealed particularly concerning trends among younger Australians, with one in five people aged 18 to 34 reporting tchey had witnessed or heard about antisemitic incidents in their local area.

In NSW, the situation was even more severe among youth demographics, with nearly one in four young people reporting local antisemitic incidents. One in five respondents aged 35 to 54 also reported awareness of such incidents.