WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Donald Trump and Kamala Harris continue to court labor union voters, Americans are much more likely to say the Democratic Party best serves the interests of union members (62%) than to say the Republican Party does (27%).
Â鶹´«Ã½AV previously asked the question about which party best serves labor union members in 1981, 1984 and 1990, and the Democratic Party held double-digit advantages over the GOP in all of the readings. The latest 35-percentage-point gap between the parties is similar to the gaps in 1990 and 1984 but 10 points lower than in 1981, when the Democratic Party held a 45-point advantage on serving union members.
These findings are from Â鶹´«Ã½AV’s Aug. 1-20 poll, completed almost entirely between the July 15-18 Republican and Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Conventions, which both featured high-profile labor union speakers. The labor union voting bloc is particularly important in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan, swing states where the shares of union members are higher than the national average.
Most Democrats (88%) and a majority of independents (59%) believe the Democratic Party best serves union members, while 51% of Republicans think their own party does. Seven in 10 adults who either are a union member or live with someone who is choose the Democrats as best (71%), but so do six in 10 adults living in non-union households (61%).
Labor union voters typically have been more likely to vote for Democratic than Republican candidates for president, but to varying degrees. In 2020, 56% of voters in labor union households voted for Joe Biden and 40% backed Trump, while Trump won 43% of the union vote in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, who received 51%.
Americans Continue to Broadly Approve of Labor Unions
Seven in 10 Americans currently approve of labor unions, essentially tying the 71% reading in 2022 that was the highest since 1965. Â鶹´«Ã½AV first measured the public’s approval of labor unions in 1936 and found the highest support (75%) in the 1950s. Approval of unions has only fallen below 50% once -- a 48% reading in 2009 after the Great Recession. The latest reading, 70%, marks the eighth consecutive reading above 60%, the longest streak at this level since the 1960s.
Partisans’ approval of labor unions continues to differ, with Democrats more supportive than Republicans and independents falling between the two groups. Democrats’ latest approval of 94% is the highest it has been in the past quarter century and is up six points since last year. At the same time, Republicans' (49%) and independents' (67%) approval is essentially unchanged.
Democrats Also Hold Edge on Immigrants, LGBTQ+ People, Women, People of Color
The same poll measured which party Americans think best serves the interests of several other societal groups. In addition to labor unions, majorities say the Democratic Party best serves recent immigrants to the U.S. (both those who entered legally and illegally), LGBTQ+ people, women, Hispanic people, poor people, Black people, and parents of minor children.
Meanwhile, Americans view the Republican Party as better than the Democratic Party when it comes to the interests of wealthy people (70%), business and professional people (67%), and military veterans (52%).
The public is evenly split on which political party is best for retirees and small business owners.
Majorities of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believe that the Democratic Party best serves the interests of all groups except for two:
- The broad majority of Democrats, 86%, think the Republican Party is better than their own for serving wealthy people.
- Democrats are evenly split in their views of the better party for business and professional people, with 47% each choosing the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Majorities of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think the Republican Party serves all of the societal groups better except for three:
- More than four in five Republicans, 84%, say the Democratic Party better serves recent immigrants to the U.S. who arrived illegally.
- About seven in 10 Republicans think the opposing party better serves LGBTQ+ people.
- Less than half of Republicans, 49%, say their party is better for labor union members, while 41% think the Democratic Party is.
Â鶹´«Ã½AV measured Americans’ views on which party best serves several of these societal groups in the 1980s and 1990 -- business and professional people, poor people, wealthy people, retired people, women, small business people, Black people and labor union members. A comparison of the latest data and the 1990 data among partisans shows Democrats and Republicans are now more likely to assert their own party’s superiority with all of these groups except for wealthy people. Both Democrats and Republicans are now less likely than they were in 1990 to say their own party better serves the wealthy and more likely to say the opposing party does.
Bottom Line
Americans are more than twice as likely to believe the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party best serves the interests of labor union members. And those perceptions have changed very little from the 1980s and 1990.
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