UAW Strike Could Be Coming: Who Gets The Most Blame From US Adults — Ford, GM, Stellantis, The Union Or Joe Biden?

A strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union could happen later this week if a deal is not reached by a Sept. 15 deadline.

Here’s a look at the latest on the potential strike and how Americans feel about it and who the blame should be placed on.

What Happened: The UAW union is seeking new contracts with an aggressive pay increase and a shortened work week.

The three leading Detroit automakers have pushed back on the demands and could see strikes happen on Friday.

General Motors Co GM, Ford Motor Co F and Stellantis NV STLA are the three automakers in question.

As of Wednesday, the UAW is threatening strikes at U.S. auto factories if a deal is not reached by the Thursday deadline.

As previously reported by Benzinga, an ongoing strike could have an impact on the U.S. gross domestic product and severely impact the state of Michigan.

A new survey from Morning Consult showed how Americans feel about the potential strikes, who is most to blame for potential strikes and which demands from the UAW are most realistic.

Related Link: UAW's Fain Says GM's 10% Offer Insulting As Contract Negotiations Break Down 

Survey Results: Morning Consult conducted a survey of U.S. adults from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11 asking a variety of questions about the potential strike.

When asked if they supported the strike or opposed the strike, U.S. adults surveyed supported it with a 2-to-1 margin, with the following results:

• Strongly support: 23%
• Somewhat support: 28%
• Don’t Know/no opinion: 26%
• Somewhat oppose: 13%
• Strongly oppose: 10%

The survey also asked which demands from the UAW union were most and least supported. U.S. adults were most supportive of an increase in retirement benefits and a 10% immediate pay increase for full-time employees. These two items saw 70% and 68% strongly support or somewhat support, respectively.

The 46% increase in wages over the next four years saw mixed results in the survey with 27% strongly supporting, 25% somewhat supporting, 15% somewhat opposing and 14% strongly opposing.

A shortened workweek received the least support in the poll with 45% saying they strongly support or somewhat support and 35% saying they somewhat oppose or strongly oppose. Twenty percent didn’t know or had no opinion.

Those taking part in the survey were also asked who would be most to blame if the strike happened on Sept. 15.

General Motors, Ford and Stellantis were listed as the biggest winner in the blame game with 27% saying they would be a lot to blame and 42% saying the big three would be blamed some. The remaining 18% and 14% said they would blame the three automakers not much and not at all, respectively.

The UAW union got 57% of votes for a lot of blame or some blame with 43% saying there would be not much or no blame at all placed on the unions.

President Joe Biden also got listed as a person to blame and received the highest percent of people saying he was a lot to blame with 28%. Biden received the lowest overall support for blame though, getting only 23% saying he should get some blame and 49% saying the president should get not much or no blame at all.

Automation in the automobile industry and the success of other unionized efforts this year were the other two items listed as areas to blame and received mixed results.

The survey also showed voters support labor unions in an increased fashion in 2023. Of all U.S. voters, 58% said they support labor unions, compared to 51% support in 2022 and 54% support in 2021.

Democratic voters polled showed 75% support for labor unions, compared to 65% in 2022 and 69% in 2021. Republican voters polled showed 44% support for labor unions, compared to 38% in 2022 and 37% in 2021.

Independent voters stayed the same with 46% support shown in each year from 2021 to 2023.

Read Next: Elon Musk Says Unions Control The Democratic Party 

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