The Invisible Romney (union) Vote?

One Jazz Shaw has written a perceptive post positing, along with Clark Judge, that some Romney supporters in unions are not showing up in opinion polls. 

For said supporters remain quiet because they do not wish to become a target of union leaders and/or their goons.  They see life as easier if they confine their support to the ballot box and otherwise keep their views to themselves.  And given the thuggish history of many unions, that is very understandable.

I recommend those who are skeptical about this thesis to look not only at the Wisconsin recall results, in which Walker greatly outdid the exit polls, but also some of the comments at the above post, such as this one:

I used to be a member of a trade union and I was a union officer for several years. The whole time I was in the union I had to lie about supporting the Democrats if I wanted to work, and in some cases, to avoid being beaten to a pulp. I was surprised to learn how many other members did the same thing. It’s a lot.


There are a lot of union members who believe that the Democrats are the be all and end all of politics and the saviors of society, and that anyone who doesn’t support them is evil. The true believers are fanatical, utterly intolerant of the slightest dissent, and vicious to those they perceive as heretics. Independents are despised almost as much as Republicans.
There are a lot of union members who will loudly proclaim their love of Obama and fealty to the Democrats and then vote a straight Republican ticket. It’s a simple matter of survival.

Now I do not think this invisible union vote thesis applies to red states in which unions don’t have enough power to be much of a threat.  But I do think some union workers are keeping their opinions to themselves in swing or bluish states where there is a history of union intimidation and violence against those who don’t toe the line.

By the way, I think there are other anti-Obama voters under pollsters’ radar.  There are others who do not wish to become the target of vindictive Lefties (Remember the attacks on Prop 8 supporters?) or who simply do not wish to be seen as RACIST BIGOTS.  They would rather just cast their secret ballots and leave it at that.

And in this toxic environment, I can hardly blame them.