Unions and the Obama administration

By a wide 17-point margin, Americans in union households say Democrats are more likely than Republicans to understand the economic problems people are having (43 to 26 percent).

Just over one-third of those in union households in a new poll from The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health say President Obama's economic program is making things better, far from a majority, but a higher number than among non-union households.

Much of the basic Democratic-tilt in union households stems from underlying party affiliation. Respondents from union households split 41 percent Democratic, 20 percent Republican and 28 percent independent on partisan identification.

Despite these partisan leanings, those in union households don't line up squarely with the Obama Administration when it comes to economic priorities.

About two-thirds of Americans in union households say Obama is doing "too little" to help the middle class and also not enough for the working class. Another 54 percent say he is doing too little for the economic interests of their family specifically. And 45 percent say so about small business.

At the same time, those in union households see "too much" focus on the interests of Wall Street and the wealthy. Just over half say Obama is paying undue attention to Wall Street, and nearly half say so about the financial interests of wealthy Americans.

This poll was conducted before the union demonstrations in Wisconsin.

        Obama administration looking out for 
             the economic interests of...
               Too     Too     Right
               much   little   amount
Working class    6      67       26
Middle class     4      65       29
Your family      6      54       38
Small business   7      45       39
Wall Street     51      17       24
The wealthy     46      16       33