When the union released the results of its presidential poll on X on Wednesday afternoon, it looked for a moment as if Kamala Harris would lose the Teamsters Union’s support to Donald Trump.
In the electronic member poll, Trump was ahead of Harris by more than 25 percentage points. In the telephone poll, the lead was 27 percentage points.
Here is the full text of the tweet:
“Last year, the Teamsters Union committed to conducting the most comprehensive, democratic and transparent presidential confirmation process in the history of our 121-year-old organization – and today we are making good on that promise to our members,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “Our members are the union, and their voices and opinions must be at the forefront of everything the Teamsters do. Our final decision regarding a potential presidential confirmation will not be an easy one, but you can be assured it will be directly influenced by our diverse membership.”
Sean O’Brien has been hinting for some time that Donald Trump might receive an endorsement. He spoke at the Republican convention in July, but was disputed a speech by the Democrats at their convention in August. Was the DNC’s rejection the reason that rank-and-file members of the Teamsters union appear to support Trump?
RedState’s Ward Clark reflected a few weeks ago on Kamala’s potential to screw up the unions:
The major unions have been Democratic strongholds for decades. They have been a constituency the Democrats have relied on since Roosevelt’s administration, but now they seem to be losing it through neglect. Is this intentional or just stupid? There are good arguments for both. The left is losing the working class, and this is not just happening in the United States.
As Ward notes, this is a really large deal because Democrats have historically attracted the support of the country’s largest unions.
Unfortunately, the Teamsters leadership decided that these margins were not vast enough to actually support Trump. About 30 minutes after that first X-posting, the union announced that they would not support either candidate:
After evaluating six months of national member polls and completing nearly a year of conversations with rank-and-file members of all major presidential candidates, the union was unable to obtain commitments from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris on the Teamsters’ most crucial issues—nor was it able to establish clear member support for either party’s candidate.
No clear support? Do they have superdelegates in these polls or do the Teamsters leaders need math tutoring?
Sean M. O’Brien, President of the Teamsters, said:
“The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting face-to-face with members during our unprecedented roundtable discussions. Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure that the interests of working people are always put before those of big business. We have demanded commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in key union campaigns or core Teamsters industries – and to respect our members’ right to strike – but have not been able to obtain those commitments.
“Our mission as union representatives is clear: honesty and openness, inclusivity and, above all, transparency with our members. As the strongest and most democratic union in America, it has been critical for our members to drive this endorsement process. Democrats, Republicans and Independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect each and every one of them. We strongly encourage all of our members to vote in the upcoming election and continue to participate in the political process. But this year, no presidential candidate has received the endorsement of the Teamsters’ International Union.”
This means that O’Brien is too afraid of the reactions of the Democrats, who constantly preach unity and the overcoming of the country’s political divisions, to stand behind his supporters.
The Teamsters’ polling in favor of Trump appears to be part of a trend in which Democrats are losing support from their former core voting groups, such as Hispanics and blacks. These results seem to be further evidence that the Democrats are no longer the party of the working class. Even if the Teamsters’ support did not benefit Trump, the door is wide open for the Republican Party, and hopefully they will be astute enough to walk through it.
