On Tuesday, CNN revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the Democratic nominee for President, is trailing significantly behind past nominees among union voters.
As reported by Breitbart, the numbers were crunched by CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten, who revealed that Harris currently leads former President Donald Trump by a mere 9 points among union households. By comparison, Joe Biden led among these voters by 19 points in the 2020 election, while Hillary Clinton led by 12 in 2016. In 1992, Bill Clinton won this demographic overwhelmingly with a 30-point margin over then-President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot.
“That would be the worst Democratic performance in a generation,” said Enten as he pointed at the screen displaying the numbers. “Ten points off the mark of Joe Biden, who of course won four years ago. He was sort of that union guy, Union Joe, right? He won by 19 points. She’s ten points off his mark. And the worst in a generation if this, in fact, holds.”
This follows previous similar polls indicating that Harris is drastically underperforming with union voters by Democratic standards, while Trump is making historic gains with this bloc. In September, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced that it would not be endorsing either major party candidate for the first time since 1996; this followed internal polling which showed that a staggering 58% of Teamsters’ members support President Trump, while just 31% support Harris and another 6% remain undecided.
By contrast, when Biden was still the presumptive Democratic nominee in early July, 44% of Teamsters supported Biden while 36% supported Trump.
Further Teamsters polling at the statewide level showcased even worse results for Harris. Members of the Teamsters in eight swing states all support Trump over Harris by double-digit margins, with the smallest margin being 18.6% in Arizona, and the largest being 45.2% in Virginia. With the sole exception of Virginia, every swing state previously saw Biden leading Trump among Teamsters.
The impact of union voters could prove to be the deciding factor in the election, as the International Longshoremen’s Association is currently staging a massive strike on the East Coast, shutting down all major ports from Texas to Maine and threatening a complete standstill in the American supply chain. The workers have demanded, among other things, higher pay and a stronger crackdown on automation.