The divide between how Democrats and Republicans view organized labor has grown to historic proportions, according to a Gallup Poll. The poll, released Aug. 31, says 78 percent of Democrats approve of labor unions, up from 66 percent just two years ago. But just 26 percent of Republicans feel that way; that’s a difference of 52 percentage points, the biggest margin since 1999. Overall, labor still has a public image problem. The poll said 52 percent of Americans approve of unions. That figure is unchanged from last year, but it’s up from a record low of 48 percent in 2009. Labor’s battles in states with newly elected GOP majorities did much to increase the gap between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to unions. Labor was front and center this year in Wisconsin, Ohio, Idaho and a number of other states where Republicans took aim at public labor unions by cutting benefits and limiting the union’s bargaining power. Unions fought back, succeeding in bringing recall elections in Wisconsin, Michigan and Idaho. Two Republicans were voted out of office in Wisconsin in August, shaving the GOP’s majority there to one vote in the Senate. Recall efforts in Idaho, Michigan and New Jersey fell short. Gains were also made in several other labor battleground states. In Ohio, union leaders and Democrats calling themselves We Are Ohio collected more than 900,000 signatures to challenge a GOP-backed law that limits the rights of public workers to bargain collectively in a Nov. 8 statewide referendum for repeal. Union leaders have rebuffed Republican Gov. John R. Kasich’s calls for a compromise. In Idaho, three laws that restrict collective bargaining provisions and change how teachers are paid and evaluated could be repealed in a statewide referendum in November 2012. The results of the Gallup Poll are based on the Princeton, N.J.-based pollster’s annual Work and Education poll, conducted Aug. 11-14. The survey consisted of telephone interviews with 1,008 adults aged 18 or older in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus/minus 4 percentage points. For more on the poll, go to http://bit.ly/qk9M3i. — Michael Lisi
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