It was big news when the International Truck Drivers union (ITP) announced that it would not endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The move by the powerful labor union, with more than 1 million members nationwide, gave the Trump campaign an immediate weapon in its attack against Harris' campaign, as the Teamsters became the only one of the nation's top 10 labor unions not to endorse the vice president in the race to succeed President Biden as president.
“The Teamsters have a lot of influence,” Trump noted, speaking about the union's first vote against recognition in more than a quarter century.
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Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, speaks onstage during the first day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Harris' campaign tried to downplay the news, pointing to support from “many Teamsters local chapters and rank-and-file members.”
Ahead of President Trump's stop in Savannah, Georgia this week to outline his manufacturing proposals, the Harris campaign highlighted the endorsement of the vice president by the Teamsters Joint Council of 75, which represents rank-and-file union members in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
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The Harris campaign touted that the vice president “is currently endorsed by local Teamsters unions representing more than 1.5 million active and retired members, including more than 500,000 members in battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada.”
But new numbers released this week by the Teamsters from a state-by-state survey of their rank-and-file members conducted between July 24 and September 15 showed that Trump has a much larger following than Harris.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks about tax law and manufacturing at the Johnnie Mercer Theater Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Georgia. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Below is a breakdown of the Teamsters' popular vote in seven crucial battleground states that could help President Biden defeat President Trump in the 2020 presidential election and determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
Arizona: Trump 57.3%, Harris 38.7%
Georgia: Trump 56.3%, Harris 40.7%
Michigan: Trump 61.7%, Harris 32.5%
Nevada: Trump 59.9%, Harris 37.3%
North Carolina: Trump 69.1%, Harris 29.2%
Pennsylvania: Trump 65.3%, Harris 31.4%
Wisconsin: Trump 57%, Harris 40.5%
More than two months after Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate for 2024, support for Trump has surged among rank-and-file party members, according to vote tally data released by the National Teamsters last week at the same time as her endorsement.
President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 2, 2024. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
A union poll before Biden's withdrawal showed him ahead of Trump among union members, 44.3% to 36.3%, but Trump held a 25-point lead over Harris. The new numbers show a similar picture in state polls, with Trump's support surging among rank-and-file union members after Biden gave up on reelection.
Biden has long been seen as perhaps the most pro-union president in modern times, making history as the first president to walk a picket line with striking workers.
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Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said the reason the Teamsters did not endorse them was that “neither major candidate could make a serious commitment to our union to always put the interests of workers above those of big business.”
“We asked both Trump and Harris for commitments to not interfere in important union causes and the Teamsters' core industries, and to respect our members' right to strike, but we did not receive those commitments.”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Photo by The Associated Press/Jean J. Puskar) (AP Photo/Jean J. Puskar)
The Harris campaign touted the vice president's “strong union record,” arguing that “while Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has literally been on the picket line and has stood strong with unions throughout her career.”
Asked in an MSNBC interview on Wednesday whether the Teamsters were seeking further commitments before ratifying their endorsement, Harris avoided answering and instead switched to attacking Trump, accusing the former president of “making a number of promises that he did not keep, or that some would argue he broke” during his administration.
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