Labor pushes for the swing vote

[IndianaGreen]

Labor pushes for the swing vote

by: John Wojcik
August 9 2010

WASHINGTON - When millions of independents went out to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2008, eight years of Republican rule came to an end.

According to numerous polls, widespread anger about the economy has put a serious dent in this support with pollsters reporting that the "swing voters," most of them working-class moderates and even some conservatives, are now ready to vote against all incumbents, even if it means putting the GOP back in power.

The labor movement made it clear at its Battleground States Conference here last week that it is not giving up on the "swing voters," and it has a not-so-secret weapon with which it is trying and to win them over. That weapon is Working America, a labor organization formed by the AFL-CIO that is signing up non-union members in droves. The group is knocking on doors and talking to tens of thousands of these swing voters every month and, in a report from the field, told labor leaders here that two out of three people it engages at their doors are joining up.

The third who don't join, says Working America, are the most ideologically conservative. The two thirds who do become members represent the 40 percent of voters in the middle of the political spectrum who are the swing voters at election time.

http://www.peoplesworld.org/labor-pushes-for-the-swing-vote/