Labor unions are in the news a lot these days, with high-visibility organizing drives at some of America’s biggest companies: Starbucks, Amazon, major fast-food chains, tech and gaming firms, foreign-owned automakers, public radio stations — and the list goes on.

Recent survey data finds that unions are getting ever-more popular among Americans, even as fewer than 10% of American workers are currently represented by a union.

Gallup has been tracking Americans’ attitudes toward organized labor since the 1930s, according to director of U.S. social research Lydia Saad.

Back then, “there was high public approval — over 70%,” she said. Approval started falling in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“[During] times of economic malaise, unions aren’t quite as popular. Record downturn in 2009 with the recession and the bailout of the Big 3 auto companies,” Saad said.

But since then, “it’s been on a long slow climb back to near record-high levels.” Seventy percent of Americans now approve of unions.

Meanwhile, “Americans favor labor unions now over big business more than ever,” according to a new public opinion analysis by labor economist Aaron Sojourner at the Upjohn Institute.

Just how much? It’s about a 15-point difference.

The favorability gap started widening after 2012, with the rise of Occupy Wall Street, Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and the stresses workers faced during the pandemic.