The University of New Hampshire Survey Center released their new quarterly polling results. The news was not as good as in April where President Obama lead Romney by 9%. This time it showed Mitt Romney gaining ground on President Obama here in New Hampshire.
In a hypothetical race between President Barack Obama and Romney, 49% of likely New Hampshire voters say they will vote for Obama, 45% prefer Romney, 4% favor some other candidate, and 3% are undecided.
This means that in three months Mitt Romney has gained nearly 5%. While this is not unexpected since Romney spent almost two weeks here 'vacationing' at his Wolfboro mansion. It was hard to live in New Hampshire and not hear or see something about Mitt in the news.
The results show that many party registered voters are sticking with their candidate. 88% of registered Democrats would vote for President Obama, and likewise 83% of registered Republicans would vote for Romney. The real tossup is the NH Independents. They are split Obama 49% to Romney 42%. So there is still a long way to go before the elections.
One of the best parts about the UNH poll is the level of details they provide about the people they polled. They break it down by party affiliations, what newspaper you read, and union household to name a few. Being that this is a labor blog I want to focus on the results of the union households.
The survey showed that in non-union households the Presidential race is a coin flip. They are split 47%-47%. This is not the case when you look at the union households. In union household, President Obama has 55% to Romney's 32%. The problem is that we are slipping. In April the UNH poll showed President Obama leading Romney 66%-27% in union households.
We need to make sure that our members know who they are voting for. They need to understand that by voting for Mitt Romney you are voting against your union and most likely your job. Mitt Romney has been all over New Hampshire talking about Right To Work for less. He has also said that he would have let the auto industry go bankrupt, rather than work to revive it. At the Associated Builders and Contractors endorsement he vowed to end Federal Project Labor Agreements.
There is no union industry that a 'President' Romney would not try to destroy. Romney has even gone as far to say he is for the decertification of public sector unions.
I fully support Governor Kasich’s—I think it’s called ‘Question 2’ in Ohio. Fully support that. In fact, on my website as far back as April I laid out I supported ‘Question 2.’ … I support it 110%.”
~Mitt Romney, this time fully supporting the Ohio anti-union law during an event in Fairfax, Virginia, October 26, 2011
Romney does not think highly of our teachers either. "
Teachers' union has deadening impact on student achievement. (Mar 2010)" and "
Smaller classroom size only matters to teachers' unions. (Sep 2011)".
If you are a Federal worker or anyone who contracts with the Federal Government you should be particularly worried. Romney wants to "make government simpler, smaller, and smarter (Jan 2012)". What does this mean to us? More spending cuts, and more government layoffs. How many people would be out of their jobs, I do not know. How much money would be cut? It does not matter. Every dollar that is cut from the federal budget has a rippling effect on the general population.
We need our unions to get out there and educate their members and the public on the effects of a President Romney.
Originally posted at NH Labor News