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Approval of unions below 50% for first time ever in Gallup poll
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Gallup has been asking the question “Do you approve or disapprove of labor unions?” since the 1930’s, and a majority has always answered “approve” – until this year. For the first time, less than a majority of those questioned (48%) approve of unions, down from 59% just a year ago, according to a poll conducted in August. The previous low of 55% was recorded at the beginning of the Reagan era.
Additional polling data from Gallup should be equally alarming to Labor. For the first time in a decade, the majority of respondents said unions mostly hurt, rather than help, companies that are unionized, and an even larger majority said unions mostly hurt the economy in general. Those wishing unions had less influence rose by 10%, with a corresponding drop in those wishing unions had more influence.
New AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka wrote off the results as a “bad poll,” which is particularly unconvincing spin. Union leaders cannot be that deep in denial. They must realize that the problems in Detroit and resulting bailouts deeply affected the public’s perception of unions. The involvement of public sector unions to the budget crisis in California and other states also likely played a part in souring public opinion towards Labor. In both instances, rightly or wrongly, unions are seen as a large part of the problem rather than the solution.
How can unions get their mojo back? Right now, they are still hoping for a legislative solution, as they have been for years. Labor has literally all its chips riding on President Obama and Congress. If they don’t deliver on the promised Employee Free Choice Act, it’s not clear whether Trumka, SEIU leader Andrew Stern, or anyone else has a Plan B.
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