“General Interest” Group or “Special Interest” Group? Understanding Nonworker Support for Unions

ABSTRACT The labor movement has mounted a comeback in recent years, with breakthrough organizing and strikes at employers including Starbucks, Amazon, UPS, and the major automakers. The continuation of this trend, which could help stem rising economic inequality, may depend partly on how successful unions are at rallying public support. Yet this may be difficult if unions are perceived as “special interest groups” that primarily serve wage earners, as they are often portrayed in the literature. Our paper challenges that view through an examination of union support among nonemployed Americans—a group that might be expected to be most likely to perceive unions as self‐serving. Drawing on data from the American National Election Study and generalized additive models, we find that, contrary to our expectations, most non‐employed groups, including retirees and disabled individuals, express greater support for unions than workers themselves. Our findings contribute to labor scholarship by providing the first systematic analysis of union support among nonworkers and reinforcing broader patterns of higher union support among economically vulnerable groups. By reframing American unions as a “general interest group,” this study offers new theoretical insights into public perceptions of organized labor and the potential for union revitalization in the US.