# rank and file union members are now Republican? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463 "2012-02-20T22:15:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/1 "2012-02-20T22:15:17Z")
I heard a reference recently that indicated that most union members are identified as Republicans. This, of course, is totally opposite of historical trends. Are there any data that can support this contention? (And, please, information only. Thanks.) xo, C. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/2 "2012-02-20T22:24:42Z")
> [@CC](#): > > I heard a reference recently … And that “reference” is …? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/3 "2012-02-20T22:28:42Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > And that “reference” is …? …that most rank and file union members are now identified as Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/4 "2012-02-20T22:37:19Z")
> [@CC](#): > > …that most rank and file union members are now identified as Republicans. What was the source of that reference? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/5 "2012-02-20T22:43:17Z")
Don’t remember, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/6 "2012-02-20T22:47:30Z")
Can’t say what party they belong to, but [union members vote for Democrats](http://www.gallup.com/poll/146786/democrats-lead-ranks-union-state-workers.aspx)more often than they vote for Republicans: > [@](#): > > Union members, whether they work for the government or the private sector, are more likely than nonunion workers to be Democrats than Republicans. The gap is greatest among unionized state government workers, who are twice as likely to be Democrats. State workers are also more likely to be Democrats than are federal, local, or nongovernment workers, regardless of union status. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/7 "2012-02-20T22:51:14Z")
Don’t know about “most,” but I suspect you’d find some (half?) private sector union members supporting Republican candidates. However, can’t imagine many public sector union members doing so. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/8 "2012-02-20T23:08:36Z")
Good. Thank you. That Gallup poll confirms what I had originally believed to be true - union members still tend to vote Democratic. I can’t imagine that the trend would be reversed in only a year. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/9 "2012-02-21T02:10:15Z")
The public sector members will never change. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/10 "2012-02-21T16:06:28Z")
The average Joe Six-Pack on the assembly line (your typical old-school union guy) usually makes a decent wage and probably resents paying high taxes to support “government waste and welfare bums”. That would explain why a party claiming they want to cut taxes and shrink government would appeal to them. Add to that the view that affirmative action means “someone else gets the promotion before you, someone else gets the job before my kids” - “someone else” being code for… Also, “civil rights” and “social justice” can be skewed as code words for “your tax dollars are given to that someone else”. The miracle of the Republican Party, IMHO, has been to persuade Joe Sixpack (actually, Joe the Plumber) who barely made $40,000 that Obama’s plan to tax people higher who are making over $250,000 is somehow a bad thing for him. Very simply, old school private sector union members tend to be pretty conservative as long as their jobs are not threatened. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/11 "2012-02-21T18:31:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > …Very simply, old school private sector union members tend to be pretty conservative as long as their jobs are not threatened. I wonder how many of them line up with the party line that the bail out of the auto industry was also a mistake. In Michigan, unemployment has dropped several percentage points in about a year in no small measure because of that governent action. And in Wisconsin (and elsewhere), any public union member who sides with the Republicans is ignoring threats to his job. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/12 "2012-02-21T18:54:52Z")
> [@CC](#): > > I wonder how many of them line up with the party line that the bail out of the auto industry was also a mistake. In Michigan, unemployment has dropped several percentage points in about a year in no small measure because of that governent action. And in Wisconsin (and elsewhere), any public union member who sides with the Republicans is ignoring threats to his job. What amazes me is that the Republicans have been able to blame all the problems on the Demorats. You see mass condemnatin of the Democrat governmnt and its overspending as a major source of the economic problems; but the biggest reason for this overspending, and the economic collapse, and the stimulus to keep things going, is the 8 years of Republican administration leading up to the collapse a few months BEFORE Obama took office. There’s enough blame to go all around Washington, so I can’t characterize the Republicans as totally to blame for the economic problems… but if a government is supposed to identify problems and proactively stop their development - well, it never happened in 8 years. Those voters with conservative views seem to be willfully blind to that or easily distracted. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/13 "2012-02-21T20:01:46Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Very simply, old school private sector union members tend to be pretty conservative as long as their jobs are not threatened. Oh, please do us the favor of letting us know where you acquired this information, as I have a feeling it will be something like “I contemplated the Platonic Form of the Union Member.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/14 "2012-02-21T20:15:51Z")
Could be that in the last year that government union employees outnunmber private union employees for the first time ever, something like 60:40, now. Still don’t understand why government employees need a union in the first place, except to withhold a % of their wages\* (paid by taxpayers) as PAC contributions to be funneled back to democratic candidates. One of the biggest scams on the American public there is. - - which are artificially higher than jobs requiring similar skill in the private sector. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/15 "2012-02-21T21:22:48Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > What amazes me is that the Republicans have been able to blame all the problems on the Demorats. You see mass condemnatin of the Democrat governmnt and its overspending as a major source of the economic problems; but the biggest reason for this overspending, and the economic collapse, and the stimulus to keep things going, is the 8 years of Republican administration leading up to the collapse a few months BEFORE Obama took office. > > There’s enough blame to go all around Washington, so I can’t characterize the Republicans as totally to blame for the economic problems… but if a government is supposed to identify problems and proactively stop their development - well, it never happened in 8 years. Those voters with conservative views seem to be willfully blind to that or easily distracted. This seems amazing because it’s simply not true. The only part that’s true is that the Republicans have \*attempted \*to blame the Democrats. Republicans in general are not thought of well in polls, and they don’t have strong confidence from people in their ability to improve the economy, or deal with the deficit, or create jobs. Nobody likes Democrats either but the Republicans absolutely have not succeeded in passing the blame. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/16 "2012-02-21T21:27:11Z")
If the question were simply whether blue collar Americans are often socially conservative and often vote Republican, the answer would be a resaounding “yes.” But bear in mind that union membership isn’t what it was. Heavy industry and manufacturing have shrunk drastically in the USA, and a large percentage of CURRENT union members are employed by federal, state and local governments. Members of the teachers’ unions and of various other unions of civil servants today are OVERWHELMINGLY Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/17 "2012-02-21T21:43:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Still don’t understand why government employees need a union in the first place, except to withhold a % of their wages\* (paid by taxpayers) as PAC contributions to be funneled back to democratic candidates. One of the biggest scams on the American public there is. > > - > - which are artificially higher than jobs requiring similar skill in the private sector. Actually, the trend is that public employees tend to have lower wages than comparable private workers, but take the jobs because of greater job security. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/18 "2012-02-21T21:45:18Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Still don’t understand why government employees need a union in the first place… I realize the OP has now been hijacked, but I can answer this question. Teachers need a union to keep members from being arbitrarily fired or demoted or otherwise tormented by the caprices of an administrator. Picture a school with a religiously conservative principal, say, who discovers that one of her teachers is gay, and who decides that in order to preserve the moral order, this teacher needs to be removed from the classroom. Or the teacher has a pro-choice sticker on her car bumper. Or the teacher has argued with the principal over substantive educational issues. Or, etc. Suppose the administration sees that a number of teachers are young and female and might become pregnant, so they choose to purchase insurance that doesn’t cover pregnancy-related issues. Collective bargaining can combat such a mentality. Unions support tenure, which is the layman’s term for due process rights, without which teachers would be at the mercy of their overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/19 "2012-02-21T22:15:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If the question were simply whether blue collar Americans are often socially conservative and often vote Republican, the answer would be a resaounding “yes.” As has been amply demonstrated by the resounding—nay, deafening!—absence of even a single cite in favor of this proposition despite the repeated assurances of multiple conservatives that this is the case (and, of course, the OP’s own request for “information only,” which may be distinguished, one surmises, from conjecture and flat assertion). This is no surprise, of course. It is a long-established fact, too well-known and widely accepted to require any further substantiation, that conservatives are not above talking out of their ass when convenient.\* - Posters more astute than some of our conservative commentators will see what I have done here. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463/20 "2012-02-21T22:44:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, the trend is that public employees tend to have lower wages than comparable private workers, but take the jobs because of greater job security. Not according to recent government studies…discussed in a few threads around here a few weeks ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-and-file-union-members-are-now-republican/613463.md?page=2)