Trump refers to unions as ‘dues-sucking people’ in a campaign video.
EXCLUSIVE: The Biden-Harris campaign is leveraging former President Donald Trump’s own remarks against him in an attempt to reclaim one big vote group that aided his 2016 election triumph and boosted him in certain areas during the 2020 election.
Union workers, who were largely traditional Democratic voters prior to Trump’s rise, were a major factor in swaying states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan toward the former president, and are being viewed as major players ahead of the 2024 elections amid the grip of labor disputes and their economic effects.
The Biden-Harris campaign, in collaboration with the Democratic National Committee, fired the first salvo in a strategy that it hopes would win back those workers and catapult President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to another four-year term.
That initial salvo came in the shape of a video on “Biden HQ,” the campaign’s social media quick reaction network, highlighting Trump’s previous comments regarding unions, including calling them “dues-sucking people.” He is reported to have used the description on occasion, notably once in 2019 when referring to a firefighters union that sponsored Biden’s 2020 campaign.
“[Unions] get their 5%, then another 2%, then another 3%, 4%.” Then, all of a sudden, they’re making more money than the people who own the firm,” Trump says in another audio clip in the film, followed by what appears to be him calling pay talks a “bad thing.”
“Donald Trump is anti-labor.” “Anti-worker,” the video continues.
Ammar Moussa, Rapid Response Director for the Biden-Harris campaign, told Fox News Digital that “Donald Trump sees the world from Park Avenue, not an assembly plant floor, and it shows.”
“While Trump looks down on workers and gives handouts to big corporations and his wealthy friends, Joe Biden isn’t just saying he has workers’ backs – he’s proving it.” After President Biden created history by supporting striking autoworkers, unions have scored historic victories, and even non-unionized auto corporations are taking notice, raising workers’ wages,” Moussa added.
“This is what happens when you have a president who cares about working people: Workers win,” he said.
Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton won union households by eight points in the 2016 presidential election, according to Fox News exit poll data. That was a 10-point dip from former President Barack Obama’s total in his 2012 election triumph, and it was the lowest level of union support for a Democrat in two decades.
In 2020, Fox News exit poll data showed Biden regaining some of that support, with 56% of union households supporting him compared to Trump’s 42%, but the latter still exceeded in some areas. Voters who indicated they were union members received the same percentages.
Polls show that a potential rematch between Trump and Biden would be a dead heat, as both face primary challenges and third-party presidential aspirations.
The Trump campaign has been contacted for comment by Fox News Digital.
