by Tim Pearce
Self-identified union members are just as likely to support a Republican for office than a Democrat, according to polling data released by Pew Research Center Monday.
Pew studied the partisan differences between Americans based on the labels that describe them “well.” Twenty percent of people surveyed self-identified as “union members,” and those split support for political party equally between Democrat and Republican.
The largest partisan split came between people who self-identified as “Supporter of the NRA.” Of those, 79 percent backed the Republican Party versus 12 percent for the Democrat. Self-described “Feminists” – the next most-partisan category – split the other way with 60 percent backing the Democrat Party to 14 percent supporting the GOP.
While union members seem to be equally divided between the two parties, the labor organizations they identify with are not. A dozen of the top 25 outside organizations donating to political candidates and causes ahead of the 2018 midterms are labor unions, and each union’s donations overwhelmingly favor Democrats and liberal causes, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Each of the 12 unions gave between 93 percent to 100 percent of their donations to Democrat candidates and left-leaning causes.
The Supreme Court cut into the revenue of public-sector unions in June, ruling “agency fees” –mandatory dues to public-sector unions as a prerequisite for working a government job – unconstitutional. The ruling affected roughly 5 million workers nationwide, giving them the option of opting out of union representation. The potential impact of the case could shrink union revenue by millions.
Unions may lose millions more in court cases that have since been filed over the mandatory dues.
The June ruling effectively made every state a public-sector right-to-work state. Twenty-eight states have adopted right-to-work laws that cover the private sector, as well.
Unions often oppose such laws because they allow workers to take advantage of union representation and union-negotiated benefits without paying union fees.
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