swinee's numbers

  
to be fair 

here's swine herds numbers 
on the results
 of the official 
        union poll vault 


==============================

WASHINGTON 


--Labor-backed Democratic presidential
nominee John F. Kerry's loss to GOP nominee George W.
Bush on Nov. 2 means "we have to do more" in mobilizing
and organizing, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney says.

In a post-election press conference Nov. 3, Sweeney
lauded labor's efforts at the polls, thanking union
members for campaigning and turning out in record
numbers.

Exit polls commissioned by the AFL-CIO 
show union
households 
were 24 percent of the electorate

 almost double the 13 percent 
of union members in the U.S.workforce

  And they backed Kerry
 by a 5.8-million vote margin
 or 
65 percent-33 percent
 Sweeney 
and pollster
Geoff Garin said.



Nearly complete unofficial returns 
showed Bush with 59.096 million votes
 (51 percent)  
to Kerry's 55.53 million votes 
(48 percent)

  Ralph Nader and
others got 1 percent.

"Union households
 accounted for one 
of every four voters
--27 million voters," 
Sweeney said.

  "Union
members voted
 two to one for Kerry
 and the margin 
was a little bigger 
in battleground states"
 he stated.

Not counting unionists 
who volunteered 
or worked for independent friendly groups

 the AFL-CIO 
and its member unions mobilized 
5,000 paid staffers
 more than 225,000
volunteers
 staffed hundreds 
of phone banks
 knocked on
6 million doors
 and distributed 32 million fliers
  The phone bank 
at AFL-CIO headquarters
 finally ended at 9 p.m. 
     Eastern Time Election Day.


The AFL-CIO spent $45 million

----------------------------------------
 
 SEIU spent $65 million 
and its members
 gave another $28 million 
to independent "527" progressive groups
 union President Andy Stern 
said in a "blog." 
-------------------------------------------- 
Other unions spent
millions more 
and sent hundreds
 and thousands of workers
into the field.
---------------------------------------------
Sweeney said the federation
 also sent monitors
 to 850 "high risk polling places" 
in swing states such as Ohio
and Florida
 and met with local election officials
putting them on notice 
that a repeat of 2000's Florida
fiasco would be challenged.

The results of all that effort
 appeared in Garin's exit
poll survey 
of 1,135 active and retired unionists
 with 653 in battleground states
 and an extra 400-unionist
             survey in Ohio.
----------------------------------------
Garin's poll
 put
the Kerry-Bush spread 
at 65 percent-33 percent,
 and
68-31 in the battlegrounds.
  
CNN's exit poll, of 13,531
respondents, 
showed the same union household 
share of 24
percent of all voters.

  But it had a 60-39 Kerry lead.


-------------------------------------
 the 24 percent figure 
for union households 
is
slightly below the 26 percent
 labor mustered
 among the overall electorate 
in both 2000 and 2002

-------------------------------------
 

the turn out 
was also  below 
the AFL-CIO's private goal 
of a 31 percent union household 
share of overall voters
 
----------------------------------------

Garin said Kerry carried 
union white men 
by 21 percent
but lost white men overall
 by 18 percent

  Kerry carried
union white women
 by 35 percent
 but lost white women overall
 by 4 percent

CNN's exit poll said Kerry 
lost white men
--38 percent of
all voters--
by 61-38
 and lost white women
 who were 41
percent of all voters
 by 54-45

 Both Garin and CNN
showed majorities 
of non-white voters for Kerry


Union voters who backed Kerry 
did so based on economic
issues, Garin said

 "But Bush's vote" 
among unionists
surveyed 
"was driven very much 
by two things: Terrorism
and moral values."

Garin's data said 42 percent 
of union voters 
named the economy and jobs 
as one of their top issues 
and Kerry had a 71-point 
margin among them
  The war in Iraq was
second among the top issues
 at 40 percent

  There Kerry had a 51-point lead.

But terrorism/national security
 tied for third among
unionists
 with 24 percent naming 
it a key issue
--and those union voters backed Bush 
by 47 points

  "Moral values" drew 16 percent
 of unionists 
and they backed
Bush by a 59-point margin

And Garin said
 that unionists 
who named "character" 
as a key to their vote
 split for Bush
 50 percent-48 percent

A key Bush campaign theme 
was to question Kerry's character
 in Congress 
and during the Vietnam War

Those who decided
 on issues backed Kerry 
by a 69-29
margin, 
Garin's poll added.

"We focused on issues 
of overtime, health care,
outsourcing, job creation
 and economic security,"
Ackerman responded 
to a question on impact 
of social issues, 
like gay marriage referenda.

"There was no mandate 
given on domestic issues" 
by union voters who backed Bush
 Garin said. 

 "They were not saying 
'I'm signing up 
with the Bush campaign 
because I agree 
with his domestic agenda 
or policies here at home.'"

Garin added data show 
even pro-Bush unionists
 oppose the Republican nominee's
 domestic agenda
 including his labor agenda

Sweeney was not specific
 about what "more" would be
after the Kerry loss
 but he made several points about
the future:

* Labor "will focus on the role of the Democratic Party
and advise them where they can be structured," as well.


"Mobilization and focus on issues important to working
families is something" the party could emphasize, he
added.

* Unions would put a further stress on 
the "unity and
solidarity" 
they discovered during the campaign,
 as part
of the "more" Sweeney said
 they must undertake.

"We have an excellent program,
 and we'll keep our grass-
roots activists going. 
 We've got to keep 
on track and
keep our members active.
  That's our greatest strength,"
he declared.

* Focus more on economic issues.
  "We have to aim higher
and that's what we'll be doing. 
 We'll be involving them
more and more on issues important 
  to working families,"
      he added.

PRESS ASSOCIATES UNION NEWS SERVICE 
 
Mark Gruenberg, Editor 

---------------------------------

   to be carved