National labor unions hoping to put a dent in Donald Trump’s support among working-class voters are running a massive ground game in swing states, sending out a detailed script to nearly 2,000 canvassers who’ve knocked on more than 6 million doors so far.

The script, obtained by POLITICO for labor-backed canvassers in Pennsylvania, urges them to establish a “personal connection” and ask a prospective voter what issues matter most to him or her. It instructs the canvasser to raise different concerns with black, Latino and millennial voters — with an anti-Trump message tailored to each group.


The script is used by For Our Future, a super PAC funded by the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, the National Education Association and various other labor unions. It’s part of one of the most aggressive, grass-roots efforts by labor unions in years to persuade voters to back the Democratic ticket.

The campaign addresses a larger political concern: While national labor organizations are all in with Hillary Clinton, Trump draws his strongest support from white, working - class voters, many of whom are members of labor unions in swing states.

Labor’s campaign appears to be having an impact. Trump's support among union members in Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin dropped 5 percentage points from mid-June to October, from 41 percent to 33 percent,, according to AFL-CIO’s internal polling data.

A canvasser for Working America, an AFL-CIO community affiliate that has its own voter outreach, convinced a 93-year-old white woman who planned to vote for Trump to change her mind by comparing the two candidates’ positions on Social Security. The woman told the canvasser that she recalled a time when her grandparents had no Social Security to rely on, and said that she'd vote for Clinton instead.

The Service Employees International Union, meanwhile, which represents more African-American members than many unions, estimates Trump support among members at a mere 17 percent. Steve Rosenthal, SEIU's interim political director, says Trump is underperforming Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Trump commands a majority of working-class white men, who are more likely to praise the force of Trump's personality than his position on any particular issue. That makes it easier, labor groups say, to change at least some minds.

"You'd be surprised how little information on the issues these voters have,” said Amanda Brown, campaign director of For Our Future. “A simple conversation about what Hillary would do on the economy or education can turn a Trump supporter."

Working America’s Executive Director Karen Nussbaum describes two categories of Trump voter. The “lock her up people” who will , no matter what they're told , vote for Trump.

Matt Morrison, the group's political director, says that if a voter is white, male, makes $50,000 to $100,000 a year and owns a gun, there's little point in trying to change his mind.

But there's a second group Nussbaum calls the “searchers,” who are persuadable. "Bereft of hope” and not completely sold on Trump, Nussbaum says, they're looking for solutions. This is the group Working America targets.

The strategy, Morrison says, is not to move searchers from Trump to Clinton, but “to move them from Trump to undecided.” Because Clinton represents the establishment to many of these voters, Working America canvassers find it more difficult than in past elections to move voters from undecided to pro-Clinton.

For Our Future canvassers in Pennsylvania tell voters who are deemed persuadable that Trump is dangerous — but they supply different reasons to different groups.

To African-Americans, they say: "Trump has a history of discrimination and blaming African-Americans for crime and violence."

To Latinos, they say: "Trump has proposed massive deportations that would destroy families and denied help to Puerto Rico."

To millennials, they say "Trumps [sic] statements are embarrassing and his policies would endanger the country, and eliminate the EPA and endanger efforts to fight pollution and climate change.”

Morrison said that the more voters discuss the issues they care most about, the more they may “take their ideas out of the isolation inside their heads and examine them and say , ‘I guess I do care about jobs and the guy who produces his clothing apparel in low - wage South East Asian countries . ... Maybe he’s not the jobs guy.'”

Karen Gasper, field director at the AFL-CIO, describes a similar technique used by her canvassers. If the canvasser is talking to a union member, she says, and the voter mentions trade, the canvasser will remind the voter that some of Trump's buildings were made with Chinese steel. “That’s been really helpful in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin,” she said.

Similarly, canvassers in Cincinnati moved older, white middle - class women away from Trump by citing his statement that women will receive equal pay when they perform equal work. “You’re gonna do the same if you do as good a job,” Trump said last year.