Americans’ support of labor unions remains sky-high
Seventy-one percent of Americans approve of labor unions, according to a Gallup Poll published this week, matching the recent high from 2022. That’s the highest approval rating since the 1950s.
Moreover, nearly half of poll respondents (47%) said they want unions to have more influence than they do today, the highest level of support in the past 25 years.
“As our country faces a cost-of-living crisis engineered by an administration that puts billionaire profits ahead of working families, more and more people are seeing the value in workers having a seat at the table,” AFSCME President Patrick Moran said. “Despite unrelenting attacks from the administration and anti-worker politicians in Congress and state legislatures, union popularity continues to rise because people want safe workplaces, fair wages, a secure retirement, and health care they can afford.”
Gallup conducts an annual poll on union popularity and releases its findings just before Labor Day. Over the last six years, public approval of labor unions has remained high and steady, between 67% and 71%.
Despite Americans’ desire for stronger unions, less than a third expect union influence to grow in the future, the poll shows.
AFSCME members are working hard to close the gap between what people want and what they expect. With the midterm elections around the corner, we are mobilizing to elect pro-worker politicians to all levels of government. Our union’s Get Organized campaign is giving more workers a voice on the job and a seat at the table. Our goal is to unrig an economy that benefits billionaires and corporations more than working families and retirees.
AFSCME members “will continue to organize to give more workers a voice,” Moran said, “which will benefit not just the workers but the communities they serve.”
