Hillary Clinton and union members - GALLUP

[William769]

What exactly ARE the union member's feelings about our candidates? Who do they prefer? Common wisdom would show Edwards, but is that really true?

Gallup set out to test that question. Their findings are interesting:


September 20, 2007

Clinton as Dominant Among Democratic Union Members as Non-Members

Democratic union members' preferences differ little from those of broader party

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's latest poll finds Hillary Clinton maintaining the better-than-20-percentage-point lead for the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination that she has enjoyed since early August. Combined data from recent nomination preference polls shows that her dominance extends to a key Democratic constituency -- labor union members. Even though John Edwards has experienced some success in securing labor union endorsements, Clinton has a substantial lead over both Barack Obama and Edwards among Democratic union members. Generally speaking, Edwards does only slightly better among union members than non-members, while the opposite is true for Obama. Clinton's support is strong and similar among Democrats regardless of their union status.

The finding here is that amongst labor union members there is no appreciable difference in the support of our Democratic candidates when compared to the general population. That stands in stark contrast to some of the claims that have been made here that rank-and-file union members would actually prefer someone else over Clinton.

First, the latest national numbers:

Gallup's latest poll, conducted Sept. 14-16, finds 47% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents nationwide naming Clinton as their first choice for the 2008 presidential nomination. Obama is second at 25%, 22 points behind Clinton. Edwards is in third place; his 11% showing in the current poll is down from 16% in the prior poll and is his worst showing in any poll since a 10% reading in March. All other candidates for the Democratic nomination are at 5% or less.

A 22% gap between Clinton and Obama shown here.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/9/21/13156/1471

[William769]

1. What? No takers?

[Adelante]

2. This is as I would have expected

She has a very good record on labor issues and a history with unions going back through the two Clinton administrations. I worked for a large and political local and met her many times in the 90s at various functions. But the real thing about unions backing candidates is whether the candidate appears to be a winner - that's the bottom line. Leadership and membership don't necessarily agree on who is backed by the union officially, too, and there can be a real disparity when it comes down to individual voting and union endorsements. It will be interesting to see what comes out of SEIU on Monday, although I don't expect a Clinton endorsement on that one, Obama seems to be riling up Edwards' applecart there, but there could easily be a no endorse decision, which would also work for Clinton.

[Alamom]

3. k&r

[Clintonista2]

4. So much for the "Hillary hates working people" meme