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Families Agenda Top October 2, 2002 Details of a recent poll show that Americans are concerned about the economy, mistrustful of corporations and employers and in search of political candidates concerned about working families. Nine hundreds people who responded to the poll for the AFL-CIO in the "snapshot" survey taken before Labor Day showed attitudes toward the economy have rapidly disintegrated since George W. Bush took office in early 2001. Only 38 percent said they were satisfied with the state of the economy today, compared with 63 percent in January 2001. Workers also feel they are less secure in their jobs, particularly minority workers. Sixty-nine percent of Americans, including 78 percent of retirees, feel the rising health care costs and prescription drugs are serious problems. Guy Molyneux from Peter D. Hart Research Associates presented the findings last week to a group of representatives from affiliated unions at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. Employers did not fare well in the survey. A majority (60 percent) of workers say employers are favoring the bottom line over concern for employees. Workers also perceive that employers are not loyal to long-term employees (57 percent) and they fail to provide adequate and secure retirement benefits (56 percent). Not surprisingly, highly publicized corporate scandals have caused a decline public perceptions of large corporations. Representing the highest negative sentiment toward corporations in nine years, 39 percent of respondents said they had negative sentiment toward corporations. Molyneux said such opinions were also driven by revelations that executives of even failing companies are paid excessively while concern for common workers is limited. "That kind of disparity of treatment for those at the top and rank-and-file workers, the sense that the rules are different for people in power, that really offends people," Molyneux said. In this election season, respondents said domestic issues color their opinion of candidates. Half of all voters are less likely to vote for a politician who supports Social Security privatization. Tax breaks for corporations also were unpopular with those surveyed. Denise Mitchell, from the AFL-CIO, said the federation will undertake a larger, more comprehensive survey on American worker attitudes early next year.
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