“Donald Trump used our own words to speak to these problems, and to the real suffering, fears and anxieties that so many feel,” the union’s president, Leo W. Gerard, wrote.
There has always been a slice of union workers who vote Republican, said Joseph McCartin, a history professor at Georgetown University who specializes in labor unions. Mr. Trump’s support, he said, is likely higher among white male union members in the construction trade and law enforcement.
But the president’s current rhetoric that union leaders are out of step with their rank-and-file members is a departure from his 2016 approach, suggesting that Mr. Trump feels threatened by what Mr. Biden could bring to a Democratic ticket, Mr. McCartin said.
“Most of what is happening here is a battle for the margins,” Mr. McCartin said.
Though Mrs. Clinton received the majority of the union votes in 2016, Mr. Trump drew just enough to make a difference. Former President Ronald Reagan had similar success with this strategy in 1980, drawing enough union support away from President Jimmy Carter, Mr. McCartin said. “I think Biden has a really strong appeal to some of the very same voters that Trump has tried to cultivate among the labor movement,” he said.
Since Mr. Biden officially joined a group of now 20 Democrats competing to win the party’s nomination, Mr. Trump has narrowed his focus on the former vice president who is leading most recent polls, calling him “Sleepy Joe” and “not the brightest light bulb.”
On Monday, after the International Association of Fire Fighters threw its support behind Mr. Biden, a longtime ally of the labor union, Mr. Trump appeared to dismiss the endorsement and pit union members against union leadership.
“The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!” he wrote on Twitter.
from Best News Viral http://bit.ly/2XSDNpU
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