When President Joe Biden joined striking auto workers on the picket lines in September, he took a gamble by making the strongest pro-union show of solidarity of any sitting U.S. president in history amid a sprawling strike against the country's three biggest automakers.
“The fact of the matter is that you guys, the UAW, you saved the automobile industry back in 2008," Biden told the striking workers, wielding a bullhorn and donning a UAW hat at a GM distribution warehouse in Detroit. "The companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well and guess what? You should be doing incredibly well.”
"Stick with it," Biden implored, telling the workers they deserved the raises and benefits they were seeking.
This week that gamble paid off, with all "Big Three" automakers—Ford, Stellantis (which operates Chrysler), and GM—providing contracts to their workers with muscular increases in pay and benefits.
As The Washington Post's Greg Sargent pointed out, the UAW sweep also highlighted the hollowness of Donald Trump's competing speech back in September. Speaking to a nonunion shop outside of Detroit, Trump mocked the strike as useless.
"It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years you're all going to be out of business," Trump told the workers. During a subsequent “Meet The Press” appearance, Trump said the striking workers were "being sold down the river by their leadership" because the electric cars would be made in China.
Trump also said the UAW leadership "should endorse Trump." Guess what? That ain't gonna happen. And if 2024 turns into a Biden-Trump rematch, their competing handling of the UAW strike has already provided Team Biden with some of the early trappings needed to build a forceful message on the economy.
That case must start with an ingrained bias among voters that works in the president's favor as opposed to one that typically doesn't, such as which party voters feel is better for the economy. (Republicans often win that measure, even though it isn't true.)
The preexisting bias for the Biden campaign to build upon in this case is the belief that Democrats care more about working people. Over the roughly eight years that Civiqs has been tracking which political party voters believe is "more concerned with the needs of people like you," Democrats have continually beat Republicans on the issue, hovering around 40% or above, but nearly always a handful of points or more above Republicans. Notably, on Election Day 2020, Democrats topped out on the measure at 45%, while Republicans hit their own high point of 38%.
Civiqs Results
In many ways, Biden may have already achieved the picture-perfect setting needed to begin making this argument: His presence alongside picketing auto workers who now have in hand new contracts promising pay raises and better working conditions. Biden's choice to show up, don their clothing, and cheer them on was historic, gutsy, and effective. It set him distinctly apart from Trump, who trashed the UAW effort while speaking at a nonunion shop. And equally as important, all those elements build on a bias that voters already believe: Democrats, and Biden, care more about everyday Americans than Republicans do.
The ad, if not already written, writes itself. It’s an ideal building block for a larger vision President Biden needs to paint about America's future and the place he envisions everyday Americans holding in it—one of strength, solidarity, and prosperity.
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“The fact of the matter is that you guys, the UAW, you saved the automobile industry back in 2008," Biden told the striking workers, wielding a bullhorn and donning a UAW hat at a GM distribution warehouse in Detroit. "The companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well and guess what? You should be doing incredibly well.”
"Stick with it," Biden implored, telling the workers they deserved the raises and benefits they were seeking.
This week that gamble paid off, with all "Big Three" automakers—Ford, Stellantis (which operates Chrysler), and GM—providing contracts to their workers with muscular increases in pay and benefits.
As The Washington Post's Greg Sargent pointed out, the UAW sweep also highlighted the hollowness of Donald Trump's competing speech back in September. Speaking to a nonunion shop outside of Detroit, Trump mocked the strike as useless.
"It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years you're all going to be out of business," Trump told the workers. During a subsequent “Meet The Press” appearance, Trump said the striking workers were "being sold down the river by their leadership" because the electric cars would be made in China.
Trump also said the UAW leadership "should endorse Trump." Guess what? That ain't gonna happen. And if 2024 turns into a Biden-Trump rematch, their competing handling of the UAW strike has already provided Team Biden with some of the early trappings needed to build a forceful message on the economy.
That case must start with an ingrained bias among voters that works in the president's favor as opposed to one that typically doesn't, such as which party voters feel is better for the economy. (Republicans often win that measure, even though it isn't true.)
The preexisting bias for the Biden campaign to build upon in this case is the belief that Democrats care more about working people. Over the roughly eight years that Civiqs has been tracking which political party voters believe is "more concerned with the needs of people like you," Democrats have continually beat Republicans on the issue, hovering around 40% or above, but nearly always a handful of points or more above Republicans. Notably, on Election Day 2020, Democrats topped out on the measure at 45%, while Republicans hit their own high point of 38%.
Civiqs Results
In many ways, Biden may have already achieved the picture-perfect setting needed to begin making this argument: His presence alongside picketing auto workers who now have in hand new contracts promising pay raises and better working conditions. Biden's choice to show up, don their clothing, and cheer them on was historic, gutsy, and effective. It set him distinctly apart from Trump, who trashed the UAW effort while speaking at a nonunion shop. And equally as important, all those elements build on a bias that voters already believe: Democrats, and Biden, care more about everyday Americans than Republicans do.
The ad, if not already written, writes itself. It’s an ideal building block for a larger vision President Biden needs to paint about America's future and the place he envisions everyday Americans holding in it—one of strength, solidarity, and prosperity.
Campaign Action