Black Eye on Labor Day

See this Gallup.com poll which finds that the public has an increasingly negative view of labor unions. Gallup says:

The 48% of Americans now approving of unions represents the first sub-50% approval since Gallup first asked the question in the 1930s.

Wow, the lowest approval rating ever, the previous low was 55%. Gallup's subhead summarizes their findings as follows:

Unions Help Own Workers, Hurt Other Workers and the Economy

Coming out two days before the Labor Day weekend, those findings are a real kick in the teeth for unions.

As Mickey Kaus notes in his Kausfiles blog on Slate, likely causes for these findings are the UAW's lead role in destroying GM and Chrysler, and the teacher unions' role in damaging the public schools.