According to a new Gallup poll, roughly 7 in 10 Americans say they support labor unions, bringing support for them to an all-time high.
According to a Gallup survey, Released on Monday, The survey found that 70% of Americans support labor unions, 23% disapprove, and 7% had no opinion — just one percentage point lower than the 2022 figure of 71%, which was the highest approval rating since 1965.
Gallup first began tracking public approval of labor unions in 1936, and approval has peaked at 75% in the 1950s. The only time union approval has dipped below 50% was in 2009, after the Great Recession, when it fell to 48%.
Support for labor unions varies by party, with Democrats showing higher support than Republicans, while independents fall in the middle between the two groups.
About 94% of Democrats support labor unions, up 6 percentage points from last year, while 49% of Republicans and 67% of independents say the same, according to Gallup.
The poll was conducted from August 1 to 20, roughly between the Republican and Democratic national conventions, which featured union speakers.
Both major party candidates, Vice President Harris and former President Trump, have spent time campaigning to win over union supporters ahead of the November election.
The poll also found that, following a decades-long trend, Americans are more likely to say Democrats serve union members best than Republicans.
The latest figures show that 62% chose the Democrats as the party that contributes most to unions, while 27% chose the Republicans.
Harris has several majorLabor unionDemocratic presidential candidate Harris has garnered support from representatives of the United Auto Workers, including the UAW, whose president, Sean Fain, cited her “record of success” with workers.
In a memo released last month, Harris' campaign argued that union members are key to the Democratic candidate's victory in November. The memo, first obtained by The Hill, touted Harris and President Biden's record of supporting unions.
Ms Harris has sought to differentiate herself from Mr Trump, who has maintained that union members would support her campaign even after a public feud with Mr Fain, who called her a “scab”.
Trump Blame Harris Biden's allies have argued that taking away some of his support from unions could be a game-changer in the race, with the economy being a key focus to shore up support from unions, who lost union support to Biden by 14 percentage points in 2020.
The Gallup poll was conducted Aug. 1-20 via telephone interviews of 1,015 randomly selected adults age 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
