The Hill News

A top official at the country's largest labor coalition said Tuesday that union voters will be a decisive factor for Democrats trying to stave off large losses at the polls on Nov. 2.

AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman touted her group's voter communication efforts and historic ability to turn out large numbers of voters to the polls.

In many state-wide competitive races where the gap between candidates is narrowing, "the difference will be and can be the labor vote â€" we expect the labor vote to exceed the non-labor vote cycle after cycle," Ackerman said on ABC's "Top Line" webcast.

Democrats appear to be turning to their traditional base constituencies, such as labor and African-Americans, to help them preserve their majorities in the House and the Senate. 

Ackerman acknowledged the difficulty in bolstering enthusiasm within those groups, which polls indicate could show up in lesser numbers than they did in 2006, when Democrats took control of the House, and 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president. 

Polls show that the slowing economic recovery has hurt Democrats, with many people expressing skepticism toward their big-ticket legislative priorities such as healthcare reform.

"Lots of people talk about the enthusiasm gap," Ackerman said. "There is no doubt that middle-class voters are scared, nervous, worried about the economy. ... There is a real fear and anxiety among people across this country."

But Ackerman assured that "we are overcoming the supposed enthusiasm gap among union families." 

Ackerman circulated a memo earlier this week, which detailed the labor group's efforts in distributing millions of mailers and making millions of phone calls and house calls on behalf of Democratic candidates.

On Tuesday, She pointed to the Senate race in Pennsylvania, a close contest between Rep. Joe Sestak (D) and former Rep. Pat Toomey (R). Several weeks ago, labor voters preferred Sestak over Toomey by six percentage points, she said. But now, that gap is at 29 to 30 percent.