UAW members support Harris over Trump in swing states, poll reveals

United Auto Workers (UAW) members in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada support the presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by 22 points, according to a poll conducted by the union.

UAW members in Michigan – the center of the US auto industry – support Harris over Trump by 20 percentage points, with 54% supporting Harris over 34% supporting Trump, the poll found. The union claimed in 2020 that UAW members accounted for 84% of Biden’s margin of victory in Michigan.

The poll also found that support among non-college-educated men – a key demographic where Harris has been lagging – gave Harris a 14-point margin over Trump.

Both Trump and Harris have courted the UAW’s members. The UAW president, Shawn Fain, has backed Harris and become a target of Trump’s ire. Joe Biden supported the UAW in its strike against the US’s big three auto companies last year, becoming the first president to walk a picket line.

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The union is also running door-knocking operations in battleground states to turn out the vote for Harris. According to the union, the poll has engaged with 293,000 active and retired union members and their families in election battleground states.

The union also noted union members who reported being contacted by the UAW about the election had increased their support for Harris over Trump by 29 points.

“When members hear directly from other members about what’s at stake and which candidate will have their backs, we’re able to break through,” said Fain. “By engaging our members and highlighting the issues that matter – their paychecks, their families, and their futures – the union makes a real difference.”

The poll comes as Fain is set to speak to members via livestream next week and is making voter turnout event appearances with other Harris supporters, including the senator Bernie Sanders in Michigan and the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in Pennsylvania.

Both Harris and Trump have been vying for working class and union member votes. Trump held a staged event at a closed McDonald’s franchise in Pennsylvania earlier this week.

Though most labor unions have supported Harris, the Teamsters International made waves after deciding in September 2024 to refrain from making an endorsement this election and claiming the majority of the union’s membership supported Trump.