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I stumbled upon this US poll (conducted by U. of Maryland & Ipsos in June 2023) containing some questions on the public perceptions of the correct use of the antisemitism label, but also having some questions of its use for "delegitimization". (I found this while I was researching a different topic as the title of the poll document is just about Israel-Palestine, mind you):

What is your impression of how labeling people antisemitic is used in the American political discourse:

  • Used to describe people who are genuinely antisemitic

More than half (58%) of the Democrats answered positively there (28%--frequently, 30%--sometimes) with 28% of them answering "I don't know" and 14%=11%+3% answered rather negatively ("not often" & "not at all"). Among Republicans it was slightly less than half (44%) who answered positively and with less strong agreement (13%--frequently, 31%--sometimes) with 34% "I don't know" and 21%=16%+5% answering "Not often"/"not at all".

There was were two subsequent questions on

  • "Used to delegitimize political opponents", which while (IMHO) a bit ambiguously worded yielded a little bit of an inversion in answer splits in the strongest agreement bin ("frequently"). 52%=18%+34% of Democrats agreed with that statement ("frequently"/"sometimes") and 54%=25%+29% of Republicans agreed ("frequently"/"sometimes").

  • "Used to delegitimize critics of Israel". This one oddly produced almost similar results among both political groups; around 52%=23%+29% of Democrats agreed it happened ("frequently"/"sometimes") and among Republicans it was 51%=21%+30%. There were identical splits from both groups on "I don't know"/"not often"/"not at all" 37%/8%/3%.

Original tabulation of the results given below:

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I'm curious: is there a similar poll in Germany? (I could ask about other European countries, and maybe I will later on, but I would expect Germany to be a country where they'd take themselves most seriously on this topic. If there's somehow a EU-wide poll on something like this, it would be most informative, though.)

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    My first question about this poll is "frequently relative to what?" For example, does answering question 16A "not often" indicate that I don't frequently hear "antisemitic" at all or that I hear it used frequently to describe someone who isn't genuinely antisemitic? No wonder the "don't know" numbers are so high.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 12:12
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    @phoog: yeah, I also had the impression the Qs in this poll were formulated a bit vaguely. I guess I could also ask if there's a more clear poll in the US, hmm... Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 12:24
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    The problem here is that ascribing the misuse of the term antisemitism to the Jews is widely discussed in Germany as a form of secondary antisemitism. Polls specifically ask about claims like this because it is assumed that people with antisemitic views will hide behind indirect accusations...
    – ccprog
    Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 13:30
  • ...When searching, these studies superimpose results, if they exist, that ask about the more general assessment of the political debate.
    – ccprog
    Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 13:30
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    There is an obvious problem with non-Jews discussing what Jews should consider offensive or not, men deciding what is good or bad for women, whites deciding for blacks, etc. One could even claim that the very idea that it is up to non-Jews to decide on the issues concerning Jews is antisemitism.
    – Morisco
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 9:52

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