This is cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now blog.
An election eve poll taken among AFL-CIO union voters in Ohio shows that Ohio working families strongly support President Barack Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown.
The respondents said they were voting for Obama over Romney by a 41-point margin (70%-29%), which represents a 5% increase over his union support in the state in 2008. Incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown leads Republican challenger Josh Mandel by the same margin (70%-29%).
These leads are particularly important because the demographics of union voters in Ohio are not particularly favorable to Democrats.
The poll showed that 83% of union members in the state are white, 53% are gun owners and 40% are Evangelical Christians. Obama is winning a majority of union members in each of these groups.
Large percentages of Ohio union members expressed their support for issues important to working families:
-90% oppose reducing Social Security benefits.
-80% want maintain federal unemployment insurance for people who lost their jobs and are unable to find work.
-77% oppose raising the eligibility age for Medicare.
-74% oppose raising the eligibility age for Social Security.
-67% support providing federal funding to local governments to prevent layoffs of teachers, firefighters, and police officers.
-62% say Mitt Romney’s support for Ohio S.B.5 -- the assault on collective bargaining rights -- made them less likely to support him, while only 8% said it made them more likely to vote for him.
-60% favor ending all tax loopholes that encourage U.S. companies to ship jobs overseas
The poll was conducted on Nov. 5 from a representative cross-section of AFL-CIO members in Ohio. The sample included 138 members who had already voted in person or by mail, and 270 members who said they were “certain” to vote on Election Day. The survey, conducted on behalf of the AFL-CIO, has a margin of error of ±4.85 percentage points.
If you're in Ohio and haven't cast your ballot yet, make sure you vote. Every single vote counts. This is the most important election of our lifetimes.
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