11-08-08, 10:09 am
New polling data released this week by the AFL-CIO revealed the extent of union support for Barack Obama in the presidential election.
The data showed that a 'high turnout among working-class union voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan formed a foundation of support for Obama.' In addition, union voters in key battleground states like Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida proved influential as well, an AFL-CIO press statement on the new data indicated.
Union members supported Obama by a 68-30 margin and strongly influenced their family members, according to an election night survey conducted for the AFL-CIO by Peter D. Hart Research Associates.
According to exit polling by major media outlets, voters from union households totaled one in five voters.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, “We have taken the first crucial steps to build a better future for our children and grandchildren. And what we’ve seen – the stunning voter participation and the common call for change – is an indication of the history we can continue to make together.”
“More than 250,000 union volunteers took to the streets in the largest independent voter mobilization in history,” AFL-CIO Political Committee Chair and AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said.
Union education and mobilization efforts turned in impressive statistics for the Obama-Biden ticket, the data revealed.
Obama won among white men who are union members by 18 points. Union gun-owners backed Obama by 12 points. Union veterans voted for Obama by a 25-point margin. In the general population, Obama lost these groups by significant margins.
Union members identified the economy and jobs, retirement security, and health care reform as their top concerns by large margins. Three in four unions members listed creating jobs, addressing the economic crisis, and reforming health care as the major issue for the new administration. More than eight in ten union members saw the expansion of workers rights by passing the Employee Free Choice Act as an important goal.
In addition, labor leaders stated that an immediate goal is to pass an economic stimulus package that provides direct relief for working families by strengthening the social safety net, creating jobs through public infrastructure investments, and directing financial relief to states to help cover costs of health care and education programs.
In the long-term, the labor movement advocates investments in alternative renewable energy sources to relieve dependence on oil and create a whole new industry with millions of new jobs. In addition, health care reform should provide coverage to nearly 50 million people without insurance and make medical care affordable for all. Regulating Wall Street and restoring fairness to international trade agreements by protecting jobs and the environment are also high on the list.
“The election is just step one in delivering the change we need,” Sweeney said. “Working men and women are poised to keep the energy pumping to help the Obama administration lead the change we need. There will be no gap or letdown.”
The AFL-CIO mobilized 250,000 volunteers in 24 battleground states. In its final 'get out the vote' push,' the AFL-CIO boasted, union volunteers contacted 1 million union voters. Throughout the campaign, the union said, the labor movement made 76 million calls, knocked on 14 million doors, and circulated 29 million fliers at work sites and union households. The effort identified a total of 3 million 'undecided' voters and helped convince many of them to support Barack Obama.
