Republicans and Democrats both chasing union support

WTAJ – From the street of Hollywood to Motor City, union workers are making their voices heard. Both Republicans and Democrats have taken notice.

A study done last fall by the Morning Consult, a global research firm, received nearly 820,000 surveys from labor union workers from 2017 to 2023. Researchers noticed a few partisan shift in the key working class constituency.

First, they noticed that these workers began describing themselves as more democratic, with the percentage of the workers doing so increase from 40% in 2017 to 51% in 2023. Those describing themselves as a Republican dipped from 30% to 23%. But here’s the interesting catch: in the same span, they also described themselves as “less liberal.”

What exactly does that mean?

“They’ve become more moderate. But that’s kind of what we’re seeing among the overall electorate since the ‘Trump era’ in politics has begun. More voters are aligning with the moderate middle,” explained Eli Yokley, a U.S. Politics Analyst for Morning Consult, and the author of this study.

He detailed that a candidate or political party’s perceived ideology could sway these voters when it comes time to hit the ballot box. “I think there’s a lot of white working class voters who feel left behind by the culture, and a lot of that is racially driven. Some of it’s driven by issues involving LGBT Americans.” He continued, “All of this stuff is a challenge for the Democratic Party, but it does have some good wins to lead on.”

This could indicate that the union vote is up for grabs and candidates are taking notice. It’s for good reason. The margins in the 2020 presidential election for swing states were very slim.

Let’s take Pennsylvania for example.

The commonwealth’s election between President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump was decided by 80,555 for Biden. The Department of Labor and Industry reports that PA has 760,000 union workers as of 2023. Swinging enough of those votes could decide an election.

Yokley explained, “This should be a reliable piece of the electorate for the Democratic Party and it just looks like Donald Trump has done something to pull them into his side of the aisle.”

The Morning Consult appears to show that while a candidate may check the boxes for pro-union policy, workers may not see themselves represented overall in that party’s cultural or social beliefs.

This is a discussion that union leadership has with their members. Angela Ferritto is the president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

“When those endorsements are being made, we’re letting them know that this candidate is with us on these issues. And these are the these are the bigger issues. These are the issues that are affecting people’s lives every day,” she said of making political endorsements.

Ferritto said party plays no role and explained, “For us it’s not about politics, it’s about policy and the policy that helps working people and that matters to working families.”

With the 2024 election cycle upon us, politicians can be seen trying to curry favor with the union electorate. President Biden, for example, was the first U.S. President to join a labor union on strike when he picketed with the United Autoworkers in Detroit. Just last week, he gained their endorsement.

Yokley said in a close race, Biden is sort of fighting on his own turf when it comes to union workers and has the policy to tout. “He’s got a good case to make with some of the infrastructure jobs he’s pushed for with the chips and the China competition legislation. He has some working class wins he can tout. He’s just got to get past some of these other problems that he’s facing right now,” Yokley said.

Republicans can see that the opportunity is there. It’s especially the case with how well Donald Trump has performed with this electorate in the past. Senator Josh Hawley, R-MO, was in that same picket line as Biden last year- passing out waters to striking UAW workers. This comes as he’s had a change of heart on Right To Work laws as reported by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Last week, Trump made a trip to the Teamsters. He said after the meeting, “Usually our Republicans wouldn’t get that endorsement. For many, many years they only do Democrats, but in my case, it’s different because I’ve employed thousands of Teamsters.”

In 2022, Republican Dave White, a union steamfitter, hoped to bring that union support to the republicans when he ran for governor. Not only showing he supported pro-union policy, but highlighting that difference in ideology.

“The Democratic ideology has certainly gone far left. It’s gone to the ‘woke’ world. And that is not what a lot of the union men and women are interested in. As I said, they’re interested in safe schools. Interested in safe neighborhoods,” he said. “They’re interested in low taxes. They’re interested in a lot of things that everybody’s interested in, but not the ‘woke’ environment that we’re seeing in the Democratic Party now.”

However, when it came to the general election, it was now-Governor Josh Shapiro who gained union endorsements. This included the Pittsburgh Boilermakers Local 154 who had picked Trump in 2016 and 2020. They declined to comment on this piece.

Shapiro explained what he thinks was his appeal saying, “Not to focus on the extremes, but focus on common sense stuff and getting stuff done for the good people of Pennsylvania. Union members and non-union members- I think what they see in me is someone who’s focused on finding that middle ground. Bringing Democrats and Republicans together. Forsaking the extremes and making sure we can put points on the board for them every single day.”

It’s a recipe that we could see from both parties. 2024 is here and politicians are on the chase. And as Ferritto explained, union workers will definitely make their voices heard.

“They’re coming because the fact that we vote right. We pay attention. We are pushing to continue to get candidates and politicians to support the policies that matter to working people.”