Unionization is on the rise across the country – experts say election petitions increased by 57% in the first half of the fiscal year. While 1-in-2 Americans report they at least ‘somewhat support’ unionization, CivicScience data show that political affiliation strongly influences level of support.
Survey results show that Democrats (65%) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (29%) to support unionization. Independents sit in between (43%).
This has significant implications given that unionization influences consumer spending. Data show that more than half of consumers (56%) report that whether or not a workplace is unionized does not influence their likelihood of spending money there. However, there’s a larger percentage of respondents who say they’re likely to spend more money (26%) than less (18%) at businesses whose employees are unionized.
What seems to be more important to consumers is whether or not companies punish their employees for attempting to unionize. Nearly half of Americans say they would be less likely to spend money at a business that was alleged to have fired employees for attempting to unionize.
Recession concerns are also heavily influenced by political affiliation. CivicScience data show the percentage of respondents who think the U.S. is currently in a recession declined last week. Those who think that a recession is at least a year away, or not on the horizon at all, saw a corresponding increase. However, three-quarters of Republicans believe the U.S. is currently in a recession, compared to 3-in-10 Democrats and less than 4-in-10 Independents.
Check back in weekly for updates as CivicScience continues to track consumer sentiment regarding the current economic climate.
