Poll: Californians gradually souring on unions

[alp227]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has long been a union stronghold, but voters in the reliably Democratic state are gradually taking a more negative view of organized labor, a poll released Friday suggested.

The independent Field Poll said that by a narrow margin, more voters said unions do more harm than good, as opposed to those who see organized labor as generally beneficial.

The figures represent a turnaround from a 2011 Field survey, when more voters said unions resulted in more good than harm.

The shift comes at a time of ongoing labor conflicts in the state and nation, often involving government employee pensions and retirement benefits. It also tracks a long-running national trend, in which support for labor unions has gradually slipped.

full: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/poll-californians-gradually-souring-unions

I think it's because of:
- 30 years of post-union Reaganomics
- NAFTA outsourcing former union manufacturing jobs to third world, non union nations
- Younger people being "socially liberal, economically conservative"
- And the negative headlines about the BART unions

[snot]

1. Concerning.

I would have hoped that by now, the pendulum of public opinion were swinging back in favor of unions.
What will it take for Dems to realize we must break conservatives' chokehold on traditional media?

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I believe Democrats generally acknowledge the importance of unions

but it's also important to recognize the factors that create a negative impression in people's minds - some of which are sensationalized by an all-too-willing lapdog media, but some that has basis in reality. In any event, union organizing has always been an uphill climb - even when the worst of economic circumstances would suggest that union expansion should be a cakewalk.

[MisterP]

3. the left has to be the one to break the chokehold

[Demo_Chris]

4. I think it comes down to perception of who benefits...

For the most part these days it seems like the only unions that are left are either public employees unions and the few remaining and very exclusive big industrial unions like dock and auto workers. Unions are not seen as something that benefits the masses, but something that benefits union management and their old-boy-network members -- and in the case of public unions, at the expense of the masses.

[ZX86]

5. Where are the polls on corporations?

I always see polls on the popularity of unions? Where are the polls on corporate behavior? Ever see a poll question such as "do corporations do more harm than good?"