From school teachers to truck drivers, unions represent a powerful and reliable voting bloc for the Democratic Party. So last week's announcement by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was a huge blow to Harris and a promising sign for Trump.
The non-endorsement comes after the Teamsters endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Barack Obama in 2012.
The no-endorsement announcement also came hours after an internal survey showed Teamsters members favor Trump over Harris, 59%-34%, a 3-to-1 difference.
A second similar poll, a phone survey, resulted in another lopsided vote: 58% for Trump, 31% for Harris, with 6% undecided.
Back when President Biden was the Democrat nominee, before he was forced out, a Teamsters poll showed him leading Trump 46%-37%.
The powerful union, which claims it has 1.3 million members, covers a huge swath of working-class jobs, from freight drivers and court clerks to warehouse workers and solid waste crews.
Washington Times columnist Robert Knight tells AFN the lopsided union vote reflects the views of average Americans hurt by the Biden-Harris administration.
“Teamsters are everyday Americans,” he says, “who have families who go to the supermarket, who have to buy groceries, and see what the Biden-Harris policies have done to fuel inflation.”
Teamsters watching from behind the wheel
Within the Teamsters, Knight suspects the union's truck drivers have watched the climate change-obsessed Biden-Harris administration attack their industry because diesel fuel keeps their trucks on the road.
“The Biden-Harris administration has attacked the trucking industry. They basically said you’ve got to have all-electric trucks by 2035,” Knight says, referring to impossible zero-emission mandates from the EPA.
A related Politico story, published in March, said the EPA was moving back its all-electric deadlines for heavy-duty trucks at the same time President Biden was looking toward the November election.
Knight suspects the non-endorsement came only after internal turmoil within the Teamsters, where its powerful leaders are cozy with Democrats but rank-and-file members are supporting Trump.
“Their rank and file is in open revolt,” Knight observes, “against the kind of policies that Kamala Harris is pushing."
In fact, before the poll was released, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien told the media days earlier the “voices and opinions” of union members would be considered before an endorsement was made.
Then came the two surveys – and then no endorsement.
