The Trump campaign said Teamsters’ members are “loud and clear” in their support of former President Donald Trump, as polling shows they overwhelmingly prefer him over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“While the Teamsters Executive Board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear— they want President Trump back in the White House!” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an emailed statement.
“These hardworking men and women are the backbone of America and President Trump will strongly stand up for them when he’s back in the White House,” she added.
Leavitt touted the support of the Teamsters’ rank and file on Wendesday, hours after the union released a poll showing its members overwhelmingly support Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
The union’s latest polling data, collected independently by Lake Research Partners from September 9-15, shows that its members prefer the former president to Harris by a 58 percent to 31 percent margin.
Despite the immense support for Trump, the union opted not to make an endorsement this year.
“The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables,” said Union President Sean O’Brien in a release.
“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” he added.
While Trump does not have the benefit of a formal endorsement, the lack of endorsement for Harris is disastrous, considering the Teamsters have backed the Democratic presidential nominee in every race since 1996. Then-President Bill Clinton lost the Teamsters’ support that year due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) after having their backing in 1992. The union abstained from supporting any candidate in 1996.
While that non-endorsement was about a specific policy, this year’s announcement is more similar to the union’s rejection of the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis.
Instead, the teamsters endorsed Republcian presidential nominee George H. W. Bush.
Bush went on to smoke Dukakis in the general election. He won 41 states on his way to 426 electoral votes, while Dukakis only carried nine states.
