DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE

For several years, public support for labor unions has reached heights not seen since the 1960s, and even though Americans are polarized toward other American institutions, unions maintain strong public support across all age groups and across educational and partisan lines. New Center for American Progress analysis of American National Election Studies (ANES) data on eligible voters in 2024 shows:

• Every generation expresses positive overall feelings toward unions, with younger generations supporting unions the most. • On average, self-identified Republicans and Democrats of all but one generation express approval of unions, with only Republican Baby Boomers expressing slightly less than neutral approval.

• Across generations, the working class has similarly strong support for unions, and unions have especially high support among the college-educated members of younger generations.

Echoing the results of a similar CAP analysis using 2020 data, these findings suggest that the broad-based support unions won over the past several years has remained durable. Unions boost wages and empower workers to achieve meaningful improvements in their working conditions and in their ability to support their families. Although workers face an uphill battle in realizing their aspirations for better wages through unions—especially given the Trump administration’s union-busting campaign—CAP’s analysis clearly shows policymakers that workers are interested in stronger unions and organizing rights.

This article uses data from the 2024 ANES. This nationally representative survey of roughly 5,000 eligible American voters conducted from August 2024 to February 2025 includes demographic data on respondents and asks respondents about how they perceive labor unions. Results are similar when restricted only to full-time workers. Complete crosstabs from this analysis are available in the table at the end of this article.

What is a feeling thermometer?

Respondents are asked to describe their perception of unions using a “feeling thermometer.” Respondents are prompted to indicate their feelings toward unions using a rating from 0 to 100 degrees, where 0 is very unfavorable, 100 is very favorable, and 50 is neutral or “no feeling at all.” Respondents’ ratings are averaged for each group in this article, meaning an average approval rating higher than 50 indicates the group on the whole feels generally positive toward labor unions.

Support for unions crosses partisan and educational lines

Across generations, respondents—particularly those in the youngest generations—positively rate unions. Figure 1 shows the average ratings by generation that Americans who were eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election gave labor unions. Not only does each generation have, on average, a strong positive attitude toward unions, favorability increases among the young, with Millennials giving unions an average rating of 61 and Gen Zers giving unions an average rating of 63.

These results are consistent with analysis by CAP of similar data from 2020, which suggests a stable base of support given the growth in the cohort of Gen Z adults: Gen Z made up 8.9 percent of the number of eligible voters in 2020 and grew to 15.2 percent in 2024, based on ANES data. Other polls that ask about unions have similar findings. Gallup’s 2025 poll on union approval, which showed that 68 percent of Americans approve of unions, also exhibited the highest popularity among the youngest respondents: 72 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34 and 71 percent of Americans aged 35 to 54 approve of labor unions, compared with 64 percent of Americans aged 55 or older. Similarly, a 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 62 percent of Americans describe the decline in union membership as a bad thing for working people, increasing to 63 percent among respondents aged 35 to 49 and to 69 percent among adults younger than 35.

The higher support for unions among younger generations is unsurprising given both the economic benefits of joining a union for young workers and the successes of a number of high-profile organizing campaigns led by young workers in recent years, such as the Starbucks organizing drive. Young workers today are especially likely to feel as though they have been left behind by high housing costs, low wage growth, and lower job quality, and unions are an effective way for workers to come together to advocate for better wages and working conditions. One study from 2022 found that wages increase by 11.3 percent for union members younger than 35.

Both Democrats and Republicans across nearly every generation express positive attitudes toward unions. As shown in Figure 2, respondents who describe themselves as Democrats tend to give unions higher ratings on average than those who describe themselves as Republicans, though among every generation except Baby Boomers, Republicans have a positive opinion of unions on average. Even Republican Baby Boomers are only just below the rating of 50, which corresponds to “neutral” or “no feeling at all” on the ANES’ 100-point scale.

The working class expresses similarly high levels of support for unions across generations, and support is even higher among the college educated in the youngest generations. As shown in Figure 3, those without college degrees all approve of unions by roughly the same amount, or just below 60. By contrast, support increases in younger college-educated generations, with college-educated Millennials and college-educated Gen Zers giving unions an average rating of 65 and 75, respectively.

Workers want unions, and this analysis shows that support for unions crosses generational lines and encompasses members of both political parties and spans ranges of education. At a time when some policymakers are expanding the right to organize on a state level while the Trump administration ends collective bargaining rights for more than 1 million people, policymakers should champion policies that will empower workers.

Aurelia Glass is Policy Analyst, Inclusive Economy.