A Hart Research Associates poll, conducted for the AFL-CIO, found that 49 percent of union members in Massachusetts voted this past Tuesday for Republican Scott Brown. Union-backed Democrat Martha Coakley garnered 46 percent of the union vote.

AFL-CIO spokespersons quickly attributed the result to weakness in the Democratic candidate, not to any referendum on Obama or the Democratic agenda in Washington, D.C.

Uh, huh….

Further polling of union members, this time regarding the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), showed a similar disconnect between union leaders and union members.

This month new polling showed that 66 percent of union households oppose changing the bargaining process in unionization, which EFCA would do; 51 percent of union households oppose changing the way unions are formed, which EFCA would do; and 77 percent of all voters, as well as 77 percent of union households oppose a government arbitrator having the final say in determining contract terms, which EFCA would do.

Still, union leaders are predicting passage of the EFCA sometime this year, loss of the Democratic super-majority in the Senate not withstanding.

Uh, huh….