The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Wednesday it will not endorse a candidate for president, despite releasing internal polling showing a majority of the union’s membership supports former President Trump.
Ahead of the announcement, the Teamsters posted the results of its own polling on the 2024 candidates. It showed that in an online survey, the union’s members favored Trump by 59.6% over Democratic nominee Vice President Harris, who received 34%. In a phone survey, Teamsters favored Trump over Harris, 58% to 31%.
Trump’s support among Teamsters has surged since Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s ticket, the data shows. The union’s polling prior to Biden dropping out showed Biden was ahead of Trump among members, 44.3% to 36.3%.
In explaining the reasoning for declining to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate on Wednesday, the union said in a statement, “The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump.”
The Teamsters’ decision not to endorse a candidate is a shift from its protocol. The powerful union, which represents some 1.3 million workers in the U.S. and Canada, has endorsed the Democratic candidate for president ever since 1992. The last time the union endorsed a Republican was in 1988.
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