Union support remains strong despite Trump administration’s anti-union actions

The August 2025 Gallup Poll indicates that 68% of U.S. adults approve of labor unions, the fifth consecutive year that approval of organized labor has been in the 67% to 71% range.

This is a level last reached in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Approval reached the record high, 75%, in 1953 and 1957, and the all-time low was recorded at 48% in 2009, according to Gallup.

According to the latest poll Aug. 1-20, 90% of Democrats and 69% of Independents expressed support, while 41% of Republicans approve.

While public approval of organized labor is holding strong, with nearly seven in 10 Americans expressing support, the Trump Administration is pursuing policies that aim to weaken organized labor’s power.

In March, Trump issued an executive order that stripped union protections from more than 1 million federal workers across 22 federal agencies. Trump issued another executive order before Labor Day expanding these actions to six additional agencies.

Despite ongoing litigation, some agencies have canceled collective bargaining agreements with the unions that represent its employees.  In August, MedPage Today reported that the Department of Veteran Affairs said it's terminating collective bargaining agreements for most VA employees, including at least 16,000 nurses.

In March, President Trump all but eliminated the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) by laying off 95 percent of its staff. Established in 1947, the FMCS is tasked with maintaining labor peace by offering cost-free private mediation, dispute resolution services, and labor relations training to employers and union members nationwide. FMCS mediators have played a vital role at countless bargaining tables over the past eight decades.

During Trump’s first term, his appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which administers federal labor law in private-sector settings, carried out a markedly anti-union agenda. One week into his current term, he fired Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic NLRB member, over three years before her term ended, leaving the NLRB without a quorum and unable to function. He recently nominated two new Republican members. If they are confirmed by the Senate, the NLRB will have a quorum and is widely expected to resume the anti-union agenda he initiated in his first term.

For related information, see the article published Sept. 2, 2025, by the Economic Policy Institute, Trump is the biggest union buster in U.S. history.