Political pollsters (always quoted by media pundits) often gauge national trends with far fewer "likely voters" actually polled than the Teamsters members who were polled.
And adding to the silliness of the whole thing is that the photo at least implies that RFK and West were both options. RFK has dropped out, and I can't even find anyone bothering to do polling on West. The one poll I could find shows that 60% of America have not even heard of West (and most of the 40% probably think it's Kanye - it's not). I don't blame Sean for wanting to keep his job and not piss off Trump supporting Teamsters. He's just usually a little less obvious.
The idea that a labor union would poll its members to determine who they would endorse is very weird to me. The IBT has its own goals, determined by the folks the Teamsters voted into office, and they would normally endorse the candidates that would help them accomplish those goals.
If anyone thinks that Trump as president would do anything to help the IBT organize Amazon (a top IBT goal), I don’t know that they’ve been paying attention.
The Teamster leaders that I know, who support Trump, are generally huge fans of the 2A and think that Trump will be better for the stock market and the economy. I think it is fair to say that they are supporting Trump because of their personal goals, and not what is best for the IBT or the labor movement.
The idea that labor unions should endorse based on who their members vote for in a phone poll is disingenuous in my opinion.
People are free to vote however they wish. Maybe their top issue is abortion, or gun control, or the border or whatever. They haven’t turned over their vote to the IBT.
The IBTs endorsement should go to the person who will best support IBT priorities. Not the winner of a popularity contest among IBT members.
You might as well ask the NRA to support a pro-gun control candidate because the results of a poll show that the number one issue of NRA members is something that Harris supports and Trump opposes, like abortion rights.
Perhaps the only thing I would add to give some nuance is that, when unions announce their endorsement, they should not claim that “1.3 million members of XYZ union endorses Candidate______” since they do not.
Rather, they should say “the leaders of XYZ union endorse Candidate ______…”
And adding to the silliness of the whole thing is that the photo at least implies that RFK and West were both options. RFK has dropped out, and I can't even find anyone bothering to do polling on West. The one poll I could find shows that 60% of America have not even heard of West (and most of the 40% probably think it's Kanye - it's not). I don't blame Sean for wanting to keep his job and not piss off Trump supporting Teamsters. He's just usually a little less obvious.
The idea that a labor union would poll its members to determine who they would endorse is very weird to me. The IBT has its own goals, determined by the folks the Teamsters voted into office, and they would normally endorse the candidates that would help them accomplish those goals.
If anyone thinks that Trump as president would do anything to help the IBT organize Amazon (a top IBT goal), I don’t know that they’ve been paying attention.
The Teamster leaders that I know, who support Trump, are generally huge fans of the 2A and think that Trump will be better for the stock market and the economy. I think it is fair to say that they are supporting Trump because of their personal goals, and not what is best for the IBT or the labor movement.
The idea that labor unions should endorse based on who their members vote for in a phone poll is disingenuous in my opinion.
People are free to vote however they wish. Maybe their top issue is abortion, or gun control, or the border or whatever. They haven’t turned over their vote to the IBT.
The IBTs endorsement should go to the person who will best support IBT priorities. Not the winner of a popularity contest among IBT members.
You might as well ask the NRA to support a pro-gun control candidate because the results of a poll show that the number one issue of NRA members is something that Harris supports and Trump opposes, like abortion rights.
Perhaps the only thing I would add to give some nuance is that, when unions announce their endorsement, they should not claim that “1.3 million members of XYZ union endorses Candidate______” since they do not.
Rather, they should say “the leaders of XYZ union endorse Candidate ______…”