Americans have generally held a favorable view of unions for decades—with no less than 55 percent of Americans saying they approve of labor unions in Gallup polls conducted from 1936 to 2008.

Not surprisingly, most of the support comes from Democrats and independents. Seventy-two percent of Democrats approve of labor unions, compared with 63 percent of independents but only 38 percent of Republicans.

Also, most respondents said unions should have more influence (35 percent) or the same amount of influence (28 percent), while 32 percent want to see less union influence.

The results reflect what other pollsters have found about public support of unions. More than three-quarters of Americans (77 percent) support strong laws, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, that give employees the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union in their workplace without interference from management. Also, some 60 million workers say they would join a union today if they could.