The Shifting Democrat Union Vote: 'They're Leaving in Droves'

The presidential fight in battleground states has a number of key storylines, but high on the list is the Union Vote. Former President Trump is happy with some of the unofficial results so far. 

"This is the first time in decades, but I just got endorsed by the rank and file members of the Teamsters which I happen to think was amazing," Trump recently told a rally crowd gathered in Pennsylvania. "That was a surprise." 

Indeed, an unexpected 60 percent of the Teamsters Union expressed support for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.  

There are a number of reasons for the backing including his administration's economic populist success, a new pledge to not tax their overtime, and promises to protect their jobs from cheap migrant labor. 

Trucker JW Paine, a Teamster for 14 years, tells CBN News there's another reason too. "The Democrat has totally left the working man and woman, the blue-collar workers," Paine says. "They're more like we want to go spend time with George Clooney up in Hollywood and get that caviar versus sit down and have banana pudding and also bologna and cheese sandwich for lunch." 

That mindset seems to be at the heart of the change. More union members now see Democrats as the party of the elites, out of touch with traditional family values.

Times have clearly changed. In 1968, 46 percent of Americans who lived in union households identified as Democrat. By 2016, that number had shrunk 11 points to just 37 percent. When Trump came on the scene, it slipped further down to 33 percent. 

"When you go to big union states like Michigan or Nevada, there's this erosion of support," says Steve Gruber, a former union member from Michigan. "They're leaving in droves because they know the economy was better under Donald Trump."

Vice President Harris has some union backing too, at least in the leadership ranks. Shawn Fain, head of the big United Auto Workers union got a prime slot during the Democrat convention. "Kamala Harris is one of us, she's a fighter for the working class," he told Democrats at the DNC Convention. 

Union Democrats say they like the legislation passed during the Biden administration that they believe will create jobs for them in construction and manufacturing. They also say Trump benefits the billionaire. Plus, as president, they say he packed the courts and government agencies with anti-union judges and appointees. 

For her part, Harris made sure her first stop after joining the presidential race happened in Michigan at the UAW where she gave credit to unions leading the way in America. "Even if you're not a member of a union, you better thank unions," Harris said. "That 5-day work week, you better thank unions. For that 8-hour workday, you better thank unions. For that vacation time." 

She'll be doing a lot of thanking if she can do as well as Biden did with union members in 2020. Biden won 57% of the union vote in the key Rust Belt states, compared to Trump's 40%. Union voters typically make up 20% of the electorate. That's about one in every five voters and there are roughly 2.7 million union members in the battleground states alone. 

Former Michigan union member Tom Norton, who comes from a family of union members, thinks she could be in for a surprise this time around. "This is the first step of a union really starting to shift to the Republican party," Norton tells CBN News. "As long as he (Trump) can finish the job of showing how businesses and unions can work together, we're going to have a very fundamentally different and stronger Republican Party that's going to have old fashioned 'Blue Dog Democrats' with people that represent themselves more like 'Reaganites,' and it's going to be a very strong party." 

It's all part of a shifting electorate that makes this presidential race even more intriguing.  

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