Union Voters Helped Make the Difference in Obama’s Historic Election Victory

In his 2004 bestseller, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” Thomas Frank explored how working people sometimes vote against their economic well-being because of divisive social issues exploited by the Republican right wing.

Union voters have been fighting to end that phenomenon and, in delivering huge numbers to Barack Obama on November 4, chalked up their biggest victory to date.

While Obama mobilized African-Americans and the young in record numbers, it can be argued that union members really made the difference in the 2008 Presidential race.

Union voters supported President-elect Obama 67 percent to 30 percent over Sen. John McCain. In the top-tier battleground states the difference was even greater, with union members going for Obama 69 to 28—a 41-point margin.

While McCain won among voters ages 65 and up, active and retired union members older than 65 went for Obama by a 46-point margin.

McCain, a legitimate war hero, won among veterans, but union veterans went for Obama by a 25-point margin.

More than 250,000 union volunteers—including many TWU members—devoted their time and energy to reaching out to their fellow union members. Efforts included educating them on issues, informing them about candidates and getting out the vote. Some 10 million door knocks, 70 million phone calls, 27 million worksite fliers and 57 million union mail pieces made the difference in races from the White House to state legislatures.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the election results show the continued strength of the union movement and the widespread desire for change in this country.

“We salute labor leaders and volunteers all across our country for a record turnout of voters from union households—they made the difference in critical states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and so many others,” Sweeney said. “We congratulate Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Our prayers and our continuing support are with them as we begin the arduous task of turning our country around.”

AFL-CIO political strategists say that the overwhelming support from unionists and their families became the “firewall” of votes that provided victory for Barack Obama in key swing states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Speaking at a post-election press conference, Sweeney, Political Director Karen Ackerman, pollster Guy Molyneux and federation Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka all presented evidence of labor’s massive get-out-the vote effort in the presidential contest, and its impact there and in lower-level races.

Not only did Obama defeat McCain, but pro-worker candidates won in key Senate races, while several notably anti-worker House Republicans lost their seats, too. “In state after state, we defeated lousy candidates,” Sweeney added.

“America’s working families and our unions were a steady force powering the engine of change throughout this campaign, knocking on door after door, talking person to person,” Sweeney said. “This year we expanded our battlefield, reaching out to more than 13 million voters in 24 states.”

The AFL-CIO effort concentrated on 13 swing states, most notably the key state of Ohio. Only one presidential winner in at least the last half century or more— John F. Kennedy in 1960— has failed to carry it. Obama won Ohio 52% to 47%.

Ackerman explained that not only did the federation and its member unions commit thousands of workers, out of more than 250,000 volunteers overall, to Ohio, but that Working America, the AFL-CIO affiliate for those who can’t join unions, had tens of thousands of volunteers and 800,000 members.

Between the union turnout and Working America, unionists and their households comprised 30% of the Ohio electorate, she said.

Molyneux presented graphics from his organization’s poll of 1,487 union voters nationwide, including 855 in battleground states such as Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The overall picture showed a 67% to 30% edge for Obama among all union voters, with 3% going to other candidates.

Not surprisingly, the biggest issue for respondents in Molyneux’s poll was the economy and jobs. He said 60% of respondents named it as their top issue. The war in Iraq (28%) and health care (26%) trailed.

Molyneux noted that race was a factor, for one of every eight union voters (13%) polled—but not in the way that had been forecast, since Obama is the first African- American major-party nominee. Only 4% of union voters, at the end, called race their “single most important factor,” and another 9% called it one of their key factors. Of the whites in that group, three-fourths (73% to 24%) voted for Obama.

“It was impressive that it was that low,” Molyneux said. “By the end, among all voters caring about it, they voted for Obama 76% to 21%.”

“Led by a candidate of uncommon ability to inspire hope, we reclaimed our country from those who are serving corporate interests and the privileged at the expense of everyone else,” Sweeney said.

Noting that the White House is just over a block away from AFL-CIO headquarters and that he was inside only once during the eight-year Bush reign, Sweeney said: “We’re delighted we’ll have a new neighbor across the park.”

In the new political climate, the AFL-CIO believes legislators will finally pass the Employee Free Choice Act to give workers greater access to a union.