Americans are pro-union. Fully 71% of respondents to an Aug. 3-24 Gallup poll on the subject said they approve of unions, and unions enjoy majority approval across generational and party lines. Just 21% of respondents said they disapprove of unions and 8% had no opinion.
The Gallup polling organization asks the same question about union approval every year. This year’s level of union approval tied with 2022 for the highest level since 1965.
A plurality of respondents (47%) also said they would like to see unions to have more influence than they have today, compared to 23% who want unions to have less influence. But they’re not optimistic that’s going to happen: 27% expect labor unions to become stronger in the future, while 39% expect unions to weaken. That union optimism score is down from 34% the last time it was asked in 2023, but it’s still higher than at any other point in the 21st century.
The poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,200 adults.
Union approval had majority support across the political spectrum, with Democrats at 89%, independents at 70%, and Republicans at 52%.
Democrats were most likely to say they’d like unions to have more influence, 73% — the highest ever measured. That compares to 45% among independents and 19% among Republicans. Republicans were more likely to want unions to lose influence (49%) or want union influence to stay the same (28%).
Union approval was also highest among women (74% compared to 68% among men) and among non-white respondents (76%, compared with 69% among white respondents.) Union approval was highest among the youngest workers — 77% among those 18-34 compared with 74% of those 35-54 and 67% among those 55 and over. Approval was also slightly stronger among college grads (75%) than among those with some college (74%) or no college (66%). Approval was also slightly higher among those with annual household income of $50,000 to $100,000 (75%) than among those with over $100,000 (73%) or less than $50,000 (68%).
