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15 Lab. Stud. J. 5 (1990)
The 1988 Elections: Re-Emergence of the Labor Bloc Vote

handle is hein.journals/labstuj15 and id is 5 raw text is: The 1988 Elections: Re-emergence of the Labor Bloc Vote? Michael H. LeRoy This study examines union member voting behavior and political attitudes in three diverse Illinois congressional districts. In these dis- tricts the AFL-CIO employed a new phone bank system that first polled its membership to determine issue concerns, and then sent members campaign information tailored to the particular issue con- cerns of the individual member. Evidence of labor bloc voting is observed in all three districts. Respondents reported voting for the Democratic candidate for president and congress by a 2:1 or greater margin, as compared to voting for the Republican candidate. This study concludes that in two congressional elections, labor provided the Democratic candidate's margin of victory, and in the third district surveyed, provided the Democratic candidate's margin of landslide. In addition, this study finds that respondents were influenced by union leadership, labor endorsements, and work- related issues in arriving at their voting decision. Between 1936 and 1976, organized labor voted with considerable strength and consistency for Democratic presidential candidates.' How- Michael H. LeRoy is assistant professor of labor and industrial relations in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois, 504 East Armory Ave., Champaign, IL 61820. 1. For the years 1936 through 1946, there were no systematic surveys of union member voting behavior; only impressionistic estimates of their Democratic voting behavior are reported. The Democratic preference of organized labor preceded the New Deal, but the sharply pro-labor stance of the FDR administrations solidified the support of organized labor for the Democratic party. (Norman Nie, Sidney Verba and John Petrocik, The Changing American Voter (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979) p. 214). The best summary of union member voting in presidential and congressional elections for the period 1948-1968 appears in Arthur C. Wolfe, Trends in Labor Union Voting Behavior, 1948- 1968, in Labor and American Politics, Charles M. Rehmus and Doris B. McLaughlin, eds. (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1978), Table 1, p. 370. The union household vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate was 80 percent in 1948, 56 percent in 1952, 53 percent in 1956, 63 percent in 1960, 83 percent in 1964, and 48 percent in 1968, according to data provided

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