The assault on the middle class and working people by some Republican governors and state legislatures has generated a backlash among voters, who recognize the need for a counter-balance against powerful corporations and the politicians who do their bidding.  

In recent Gallup/USA Today and New York Times/CBS polls, by ratios of about two to one, respondents say public employees should not lose their rights to join a union. A slightly smaller majority didn’t want government employees to suffer cuts in wages or benefits. The latest Gallup poll also shows that 48 percent of Americans agree more with unions than with governors (39 percent) when it comes to cutting state budgets and collective bargaining.  

Writing on Politico.com, Robert Kuttner says the union movement is one of the few sources that offers a credible explanation of the economic  crash and presents a plan to rebuild the middle class. As the middle class becomes increasingly vulnerable, Kuttner says, more Americans are remembering that unions stand up for the ordinary workers. (Read Kuttner’s entire column here.)

The Republican strategy to stir the public against nurses, teachers, firefighters and police for having decent pensions and jobs when other citizens were losing theirs has backfired, Kuttner says. Voters identify more with their neighbors who work for the government than with the governors.

Even though public employees are under attack, there is a surge of interest in joining unions among low-wage retail workers at places such as Wal-Mart and in occupations like janitors and hotel and restaurant workers and security guards, as well as middle-class occupations such as nursing, Kuttner adds.

In the end, he says:

Republicans may ultimately find that it was a strategic blunder to demonize unions. As more of the middle class feels the economic vulnerabilities of the working class, Americans are giving unions a second look.