New Poll Shows Public Support for UAW Strikes Is Growing

Survey data released Monday shows that the United Auto Workers strikes have grown in popularity with U.S. voters since they kicked off 10 days ago.

A Data for Progress poll of 1,229 likely U.S. voters conducted on September 20-21 found that 62% of all voters support the UAW strikes, which expanded last week to every General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution facility in the country.

Nearly half—48%—of Republican voters support the strikes, according to Data for Progress, along with 79% of Democratic voters and 59% of Independent and third-party voters.

"Compared to the week before, when we asked the same question just after the announcement of the strike, support for the UAW strikes has risen from 55% to 62%, while opposition has dropped from 35% to 29%," noted Lew Blank, a communications associate at Data for Progress. "Notably, we find a seven percentage point increase in support among Independents and a 10 percentage point increase in support among Republicans."

Data for Progress also asked voters whether they trust President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump more to support labor unions.

Forty-four percent of all likely voters said they trust Biden and 29% chose Trump, while 21% said they trust neither.

"More than 2 in 5 Independents (42%) report that they trust neither figure more or that they don't know which one they trust more, indicating that the Democratic Party has a considerable opportunity to bolster support among Independent voters by standing alongside UAW workers," Blank wrote.

The new polling comes a day before Biden—who is seeking reelection in 2024—is set to join striking UAW members on the picket line in Michigan, a historic show of support for the union's fight for major contract improvements.

Trump, for his part, is scheduled to speak to around 500 current and former union members on Wednesday night in Clinton Township, Michigan, skipping the 2024 Republican presidential debate.

"If Trump is a friend of workers, why did his administration repeatedly do what corporate lobbyists asked for instead of what worker advocates wanted?"

With his Michigan visit, Trump—the GOP front-runner—is attempting to posture as a champion of the working class, running radio ads in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio that praise autoworkers and claim he has "always had their back."

Steven Greenhouse, a veteran labor reporter, called that narrative "appalling poppycock" in an op-ed for The Guardian on Monday.

"During Trump's four years as president, he and his administration did far more to stab workers in their backs," Greenhouse wrote. "Trump didn't lift a finger to increase the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at a pathetically low $7.25 an hour since 2009. And he certainly didn't have workers' backs when he scrapped [former President] Barack Obama's move to expand overtime coverage, thereby denying 8 million workers the ability to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay."

"If Trump is a friend of workers," Greenhouse asked, "why did his administration repeatedly do what corporate lobbyists asked for instead of what worker advocates wanted?"