Working America Is at Your Door, Making a Difference this Election

by Laura Clawson, Oct 1, 2008

In recent weeks, as the AFL-CIO’s largest-ever grassroots mobilization is discussed as a factor in this November’s elections, Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has been repeatedly mentioned as an integral—and innovative—part of this mobilization. So just what is behind those references to Working America you may have seen in The New York Times, In These Times, Talking Points Memo or Marc Ambinder?

Over the past couple of years, Working America has recruited 2.5 million members concerned with issues like health care, jobs and the economy, education, Social Security and the mortgage crisis. Now, nearly 500 canvassers are knocking on tens of thousands of doors each night in states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon and Colorado. At each door, they have a one-on-one conversation with a member about the specific issues of greatest concern and provide information about the candidates who have been endorsed by Working America for their commitment to working families.

The stories canvassers tell are dramatic. Pennsylvania field director Jenn Jannon tells of three retirees she spoke to in Pittsburgh:

[They] told me that they didn’t like McCain, but they might vote for him…They were afraid about their retirement security and health care, but also afraid of what they felt they might not know about [Sen. Barack] Obama. I told them that I understood how they could be afraid, and that I was afraid, too. Except, what I was afraid of was [Sen. John] McCain’s plan to privatize Social Security and tax their health care benefits. These folks listened to me tell them why I was out fighting for Senator Obama, and I swayed at least two of them.

Other canvassers tell stories of Working America members whose response to hearing about McCain’s positions on Social Security is to pull the McCain signs out of their yards and throw them away when they hear about his positions on Social Security. These are the conversations that lead to Working America’s effectiveness. Among active Working America members:

• 84 percent make less than $60,000.
• 78 percent are white.
• 63 percent don’t have a college degree.
• 62 percent do not have a strong party affiliation.
• 61 percent are 40 years or older.
• 41 percent attend church at least weekly.
• 32 percent own guns.

And yet, in 2006, polling showed that 79 percent of Working America voters in Ohio voted for Gov. Ted Strickland and 72 percent voted for Sen. Sherrod Brown.

This year, the presidential race is a major focus, but Working America also is talking with its members about Senate candidates like Al Franken in Minnesota, Jeff Merkley in Oregon, Mark Udall in Colorado, and Tom Udall in New Mexico, and House candidates like John Boccieri and Mary Jo Kilroy in Ohio. And with the recent financial crisis, Working America’s members are more ready than ever to hear its message about which candidates will fight for working people like them.

______________________________________

Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (1)