Americans’ Approval Of Labor Unions Near Highest Level Since 1960s

A strong majority of Americans continue to view labor unions in a positive light, according to a new Gallup survey released Wednesday.

Seventy percent of respondents said they hold a favorable view of unions, up slightly from 67% in 2023. Only 23% said they disapprove of unions.

This year’s approval rating marks the second-highest in nearly 60 years, topped only by 71% in 2022.

Union favorability has risen and remained elevated after dropping around the time of the Great Recession in the late 2000s. Their growing popularity has come with an increase in union election petitions, with more employees trying to organize their workplaces.

More workers have also been walking off the job to demand better working conditions, with the number of striking workers more than doubling in 2023. Polling showed the public largely supported the auto workers who went on strike against Ford, General Motors and Jeep parent company Stellantis last year.

But so far, the rise in popularity of unions has not translated into a bigger labor movement in the U.S., where union density has been on a decadeslong decline.

Around 1 in 3 workers belonged to a union in the 1950s, compared to just 1 in 10 today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Although the raw number of union members increased by an estimated 139,000 last year, union density actually fell slightly because the U.S. workforce had grown.)

Labor leaders have pointed to the high favorability ratings in Gallup’s surveys to make case for a union resurgence. They also say it’s a reason unions could be pivotal in the 2024 elections, persuading members and their families to back Democratic candidates in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The largest unions quickly came out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race against former President Donald Trump in July. Several union leaders, including UAW President Shawn Fain, gave speeches at the Democratic National Convention this month.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, argued in a speech in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that union influence would be pivotal in the race for the White House. The federation, which includes 60 unions, says that 22% of voters in Pennsylvania are either union members or retirees who’d been in unions.

“We can run up the margins where it counts, we have built an organizing machine that can mobilize on a dime, and we have built a singular trust and connection with workers, families and neighbors,” Shuler said. “There is no question that the road to the White House runs through America’s union halls.”