As Teamsters leadership considers the endorsement, a poll of members showed that more than half of Teamsters members support former President Trump over Vice President Harris in the next presidential election.
The Teamsters, one of the largest labor unions in the country, Members' vote A poll conducted by Lake Research Partners after last week's debate between Ms Harris and Mr Trump showed 58 percent backing Mr Trump and 31 percent backing the vice president.
“Over the past year, the Teamsters union has pledged to conduct the most inclusive, democratic and transparent presidential confirmation process in the history of our 121-year-old organization, and today we deliver on that promise to our members,” Teamsters Chairman Sean O'Brien said in a statement.
“Our members are our members, and their voices and opinions must be at the center of everything Teamsters does,” he continued. “Our final decision regarding our presidential endorsement is not made lightly, but will certainly be decided directly by our diverse membership.”
Support from the group's leadership could be announced as early as Wednesday.
The latest polling shows a big shift among members since President Biden ended his candidacy in late July: In the poll, conducted among members from April 9 to July 3, 44% of members supported Biden, while 36% supported Trump.
President Trump met with Teamsters officials in January to win their endorsement, and Harris met with the group's leaders in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
The Teamsters union supported Biden in the 2020 election before O'Brien was elected president in 2021 and has historically supported Democratic presidential candidates.
But O'Brien, who spoke in a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention but did not speak at the Democratic Convention, has opposed the idea that unions should automatically endorse the Democratic candidate since before Biden dropped out of the race in mid-July due to concerns about his age and mental health.
