http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/14093/Author: Rick Nagin
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 12/05/08 12:36
CLEVELAND — According to preliminary data, organized labor can claim credit for nearly 40 percent of Barack Obama’s vote in Ohio, turning the state from red to blue, a key element of the national Democratic victory.
At a press conference Nov. 5, Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO political director, said exit polls in Ohio indicated that 30 percent of all voters were either union members, retirees and their families or members of Working America, the labor federation’s community affiliate. That means that of the 5.2 million votes in the state’s presidential election, 1.52 million were union-affiliated. Of these, two-thirds or 1.04 million voted for Obama, according to pollster Guy Molyneux.
That is nearly 40 percent of the 2.67 million votes Obama won in the Buckeye State.
Ohio Labor 2008, the political effort of the AFL-CIO, operated independently of the official Obama campaign and was legally barred from reaching outside its ranks. It concentrated on 1.3 million active union members and retirees and their families as well as the 800,000 members of Working America.
These 2.1 million voters were contacted repeatedly by mail, by phone, at workplaces and in home canvassing. A similar effort was made by unions affiliated with the Change to Win federation, including the Teamsters, Food and Commercial Workers, Service Employees and Unite Here.
The labor fraction of Obama’s vote is particularly remarkable considering that last April, Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola reported results of a poll showing that 57 percent of union members in the state had a favorable impression of Republican Sen. John McCain.
FULL story at link.
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