US society supports the Hollywood and auto industry strikers

The majority of Americans supports employees in automotive industries and Hollywood where are on strikeaccording to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

55% of Americans support United Auto Workers’ first-ever simultaneous strike at three Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis plants to demand better wages and working conditionswhile 32% are against the mobilizations.

At the same time, 60% of respondents answered that they support the strikes of screenwriters and actors, who are demanding wage increases and the protection of their professionwhile 27% were against it.

Support for strikes was particularly strong among Democrats, with 72% supporting auto strikes and 79% supporting the Hollywood strike.

But a large portion of Republicans also supported the strikes, with 48% of those polled supporting strikes at the auto industry and 46% supporting strikes in Hollywood.

Former US President Donald Trump, who appears to be the favorite to be his party’s nominee again, has said he will not attend the 2024 Republican presidential debate on September 27. Instead he will deliver a speech to workers in auto and other factories.

Other candidates for the Republican nomination, such as Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, have felt that auto workers are asking for too much.

For his part, US President Joe Biden has sided with the UAW and called on automakers to make more concessions as he tries to woo the union vote. In the 2020 election, he collected 57% of the vote of union members, compared to 40% who preferred Trump.

Moreover, this year there is a strengthening of trade unions in the USA. As of August, and before the UAW strike, 310,000 American workers had participated in strikes, with 2023 on track to become the year with the most strikes in the US since 2019.