A Majority of Voters Support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes, Overwhelmingly Agree With Key Demands
By Rob Todaro and Lew Blank
August 9 marked the 100th day of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, and this week is the one-month mark of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike. For the first time in more than 60 years, both unions are striking and negotiating with the big Hollywood studios for fair pay and a range of employment protections. New Data for Progress polling finds that a majority of likely voters support these strikes and overwhelmingly agree with the unions’ key demands.
Sixty-seven percent of likely voters support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, while only 18% oppose. Even a plurality of voters who have an unfavorable opinion of labor unions (48%) support the strikes.
While the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are each negotiating their own contracts, both unions are fighting for fair compensation, stronger workers’ rights, and greater employment protections. When asked about several of the unions’ demands, at least 7 in 10 voters side with the workers:
87% agree that actors and writers should receive the appropriate compensation when their work continues to earn money for corporations from reruns or streaming.
85% agree that actors have the right to their own images, voice, and likeness, and must be ensured consent and fair compensation when any of it is used with artificial intelligence.
82% agree that major Hollywood studios and streamers, such as NBC Universal, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Paramount, should guarantee that screenwriters, actors, and other media professionals are fairly compensated for the streaming revenue generated from their work.
74% agree that Hollywood studios should be prohibited from replacing human writers with artificial intelligence tools for the purpose of writing material for movies and TV shows.
72% agree that TV actors and writers should receive fair compensation and employment terms that account for the shorter seasons and longer hiatuses between seasons on streaming services.
We also find that support for the strikes is resilient even when voters are presented with messaging about how the disputes could interrupt the programming they enjoy. When respondents are informed that the strikes could cause major production delays on TV shows and movies that they enjoy, support for the strikes remains consistent, with 86% of voters who originally said they supported the strikes saying they still support the strikes.
Lastly, after learning that the major Hollywood studios rejected the demands of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, 59% of voters say they have an unfavorable opinion of the major Hollywood studios, while just 21% report a favorable opinion. This is a drop in favorability of 10 points, as 31% percent of voters initially expressed a favorable opinion of the Hollywood studios before being given any additional information about the strikes.
These findings emphasize that voters are largely supportive of the writers, actors, and other media professionals on strike, and overwhelmingly agree with their demands for fair compensation and protections from artificial intelligence. Furthermore, voters have an unfavorable view of major Hollywood studios after learning about their rejection of the unions' demands.
Rob Todaro (@robtodaro) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.