In the run-up to the US election, Vice President Kamala Harris is scrambling to secure the support of male volunteers in some unions, and phone calls and home visits are necessary to get Democratic supporters to turn out to vote, senior labor officials said.

Most unions have long supported Democratic candidates, and both Harris and President Joe Biden have supported unions and defended workers’ rights in contract negotiations.

But Republican candidate Donald Trump, president from 2017 to 2021, has made inroads among union workers in recent years, and any decline in support for Harris could be a deciding factor in the neck-and-neck race.

If elected, Harris will make US history as the first female and second black president, and sexism and racism are seen as obstacles to her victory.

Liz Shuler, president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO, said interest in Harris was strong overall, but sexism had likely weakened support for her in some unions.

“Let’s be honest, there are people who look at a female candidate and dismiss her because she’s not perceived as president,” he said. “No one is questioning Donald Trump like this.”

Finding these men at home can be difficult, he said, and the AFL-CIO has solved the problem by visiting men at their workplaces, where the chances of a conversation aimed at addressing their concerns are much higher.

The problem is particularly acute in unions for construction workers, such as electricians and plumbers, whose members are predominantly male and white.

Larger service unions, where membership is more diverse, are seeing a growing gender gap, with a decline in men’s support being offset by a rise in women’s support, labor officials say.

This is part of a phenomenon emerging across the country that could be a crucial factor in the election, according to a Reuters poll. Harris is winning with women, especially white women, while Trump is polling better among men than he did in 2020.

James Maravelias, president of the Delaware AFL-CIO, said Harris’ support among male members has waned partly because of her liberal background on social issues and partly because of her male chauvinism.

“I’m afraid some of it will never come out,” Maravelias said of its potential impact on Election Day.

AFL-CIO knockers have said in interviews that some households see Harris and Democrats as strong advocates of union rights, while others have lost faith in the Democratic Party and see more common ground with Trump.

“Men are the toughest door knockers,” said one of the six doorknockers interviewed. “They want to argue and there is no agreement on the facts.”

An AFL-CIO-led door-knocking effort in the Philadelphia area was forced to narrow its focus to known Harris supporters after the expected wave of volunteers failed to materialize, according to a local organizer.

Maggie Mullooly, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia chapter of the AFL-CIO, said the labor group’s mobilization efforts are strong and the lack of volunteers is not a problem.

Labor volunteers have knocked on more than 160,000 doors in the Philadelphia area and are poised to knock on 220,000 more by Election Day, he said. The information was provided on Friday, after the story was first published.

Most major unions, including the United Auto Workers Union, have backed Harris, but this presents a mixed picture at the grassroots level across industries and different regions of the country.

POLL SUPPORTS HARRIS BUT WILL THAT HELP HIM WIN?

Support for Harris remains strong in Racine, Wisconsin, said Richard Glowacki, president of UAW Local 180, which represents workers at CNH Industrial’s sprawling tractor plant on the outskirts of that faded blue-collar city.

He called the demand for lawn signs from Harris and other Democrats “unrealistic” and said retirees are actively voting.

But the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents workers ranging from airline pilots to zookeepers, has decided not to support a candidate this election after a poll of members showed Trump leading Harris 59.6% to 34%. decided.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Harris leading Trump 47 percent to 36 percent among Americans who are union members or have a family member who is. The survey of 655 union household respondents was conducted Oct. 16-21 and had a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.

In Edison Research’s survey of people living in the same household as a union member, Biden had a 16-point advantage over Trump in the 2020 election (56% to 40%).

Sharp losses in support among non-college-educated men could be offset by gains among non-college-educated women, according to a senior campaign official.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest union federation, which has built scores of unions among its members, says union workers make up a fifth of voters in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The three states, known as the “Blue Wall” because of their importance to Democrats, are among seven battlegrounds that will determine Tuesday’s presidential election.

Unions are also key to Democrats’ “get out the vote” efforts in these states, and their members traditionally knock on thousands of doors to mobilize voters ahead of elections.

Harris, herself of South Asian descent, dismissed concerns that sexism could harm her chances of winning the White House and said the country was “absolutely” ready to elect a female president.

Jimmy Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), which has more than 140,000 members, said the drop in support from men in his union had been more than offset by women.

“I’ve talked to female members in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, and I can tell you that not one of the female members I’ve talked to has been a supporter of Donald Trump.” he said.