‘Fake News’ About Andy Puzder’s Popularity

As part of its smear campaign against Labor Secretary-designate Andy Puzder, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) this afternoon will release a “poll” from Hart Research Associates, the pollster for unions and liberal advocacy groups.

NELP has a recent history of promoting inaccurate polls to advance its agenda. In 2014 and 2016, the organization suggested that opposition to raising the minimum wage could be the key “decisive issue” in tight Senate races. “Opposing A Minimum Wage Hike Could Cost The GOP The Senate,” one of their staffers predicted. The poll was flawed and the prediction was very wrong, in both 2014 and in 2016. We described this further in a September 2016 piece in The Hill. 

A national tracking poll of 40,000 voters, conducted by Morning Consultfinds that, among voters who are familiar with Mr. Puzder, favorable views outweigh unfavorable ones. However, half of those surveyed had no opinion on Mr. Puzder–either because they hadn’t heard of him, or didn’t know enough about him. State-specific results for Maine and Alaska show similar results.

Those who are familiar with Andy Puzder, and who work for the CKE franchisees, have an overwhelmingly-positive view of their workforce experience. A recent national survey of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. employees found that 90 percent agreed they admire store and company management, and 92 percent agree Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are great places to work. In a television commercial released yesterday, four of these employees describe their experiences in additional detail.