UAW Endorsement—Not a Factor

Last week, the United Auto Workers endorsed for 2024 re-election U.S. president Joe Biden.

Some sources, given the UAW’s strike last fall, have tried to make this out to be a big deal. A part of the reason is because this is with respect to the bellwether state of Michigan. It is home to all three U.S. auto manufacturers, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Stellantis. The former two are headquartered in Michigan; the latter is headquartered in Amsterdam but Chrysler Corporation, its American subsidiary, is also headquartered in Michigan.

In this day and age, the UAW’s endorsement is not a big deal.

The UAW, which regularly endorses the Democratic Party, is not enough to persuade a sufficient number of citizens to vote for this party and to prevent the Republican Party from prevailing.

The circumstances of Election 2024, especially with the polls over the last two to three months, are bad for the 2024 Democrats and Joe Biden. They indicate enough citizens will not vote to re-elect Joe Biden. The issues are dealing with inflation and other economic matters; the continuous support and funding of the wars/conflicts; the border crisis; etc. Other factors, at this point, are a bonus for the 2024 Republicans and likely nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump. (It is not a help, to Biden/Democrats, people have told the pollsters their lives were better during the presidency of Trump.)

We need more unions. No doubt. But I also wonder if the UAW endorsing Biden casts them in a negative light. It has to do with the income level, the benefits, as experienced by members of the UAW having not spread to other working class citizens who are left behind. Being left behind also translates, to non-UAW members who are also among the working class, as being left behind by the Democratic Party. The working class are, in general, trending Republican while the professional-managerial class—people with six-figure incomes and up—are trending Democratic. That this endorsement may make the UAW comes across as…out of touch. 

(To the UAW’s credit: They opted to not endorse either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination—apparently due to members being divided over who to support—which suggests the UAW can be, when necessary, in touch.)

In an election year in which the Democratic incumbent U.S. president struggles to reach 40 percent in job approval…this endorsement by the UAW—more specifically by president Shawn Fain (above left, with Biden) and the people who are on the national board—will have no effect electorally.