What do Americans think of labor unions? Poll finds disapproval rating at 57-year low

The share of Americans who disapprove of labor unions is now at its lowest level in several decades, according to new polling.

In the latest Gallup poll, 23% of respondents said they disapproved of labor unions. A rating that low has not been recorded since 1967.

By contrast, 70% of respondents said that they approved of labor unions, which was only one point shy of the 59-year record-high reached in 2022.

The approval rating has been trending upward since 2009, when a record-low 48% said they approved of labor unions.

The poll, conducted between Aug. 1 and 20, sampled 1,015 U.S. adults.

It also asked respondents how much confidence they had in organized labor.

A plurality, 43%, said they had some confidence, while 28% said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence. Meanwhile, 25% said they had very little confidence in organized labor.

These figures are largely in line with the responses from previous years.

Further, the poll asked respondents if anyone living in their household was a member of a labor union.

The vast majority, 85%, said that no one in their home was a part of a union, while just 15% said someone in their home was a union member.

The poll comes as labor union membership in the United States is at historic lows.

In 2023, the membership rate dropped to 10% from a record-low 10.1% reached in 2022, according to Reuters.

It also comes as union strike activity has increased in recent years.

In 2023, an estimated 539,000 Americans were “involved in work stoppages,” which marked a 141% increase from 2022, according to a Labor Action Tracker report. The massive increase was largely attributed to high-profile strikes, including among actors and writers with SAG-AFTRA and UAW, per the report.

This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 4:58 PM.