Photo: August 3, 2019, Make Detroit the Engine of the Green New Deal. Credit: Becker1999 from Grove City, OH.

A poll by YouGov Blue on behalf of Data for Progress shows brought support for the Green New Deal from union members.

1,012 US voters were selected to be representative of US voters by age, race/ethnicity, sex, education, and region. Respondents were asked:

“As you may know, the Green New Deal is a proposal to significantly reduce carbon pollution and create jobs by spending billions of government dollars on infrastructure, wind and solar energy, and more efficient buildings and transportation systems. Based on what you know, do you support or oppose the Green New Deal?”

From what you hear in the media, you would be likely to expect that union members would be strongly against the Green New Deal. The actual response from union members? Sixty-two percent of union members support the Green New Deal. Only 22 percent oppose it.

Previous research indicates that union members have long been more supportive of climate protection policies than Americans as a whole. A study by Todd Vachon and Jeremy Brecher based on data from national surveys found that union members are on average more likely than the general population to display pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. For example, in the General Social Survey (GSS), people were asked to agree or disagree with the statement: “We worry too much about the future of the environment and not enough about prices and jobs today.” Forty-three percent of nonunion respondents disagreed—but 48 Commupercent of the unionized respondents disagreed.