Since the long road of the presidential campaign began more than a year ago, the credit union industry has been trying to get the attention of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to make them aware of the industry's crucial role in supporting and growing the middle class – a top campaign issue.

In less than a month, the nation will have a new president-elect.

The big question is whether efforts by CUNA and NAFCU will pay off in getting the new president to remember the industry's priority issues of reducing regulatory burdens and keeping the tax exemption so that credit unions can continue their primary mission of people helping people, in the form of providing members with lower rates, lower fees and better service.

In October 2015, CUNA triggered its member activation program to launch a “Strong Credit Unions. Strong Middle Class” campaign that marshalled credit union members to reach out to the presidential primary candidates.

Richard Gose, CUNA's chief political officer, said the purpose of the CUNA campaign was to make sure the Democratic and Republican candidates, as they were developing their domestic economic policies, heard about credit unions' critical role in supporting and growing the middle class that fuels much of the nation's economic activity.

The campaign also gave members the option of signing a petition that was sent to the presidential candidate of their choice. The petitions, signed by more than 30,000 members, reminded the candidates of the important benefits credit unions delivered to millions of middle class consumers, such as $8.4 billion in direct financial benefits, lower cost choice for financial products and services, and avoiding risky behaviors that have become notorious with big banks.

That message apparently got through to at least one Republican primary presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina, in December when she spoke at a credit union event organized by the Carolinas Credit Union League as part of a collaboration between the league and CUNA's campaign. Fiorina addressed the Lowcountry Chapter of Credit Unions at the $1.5 billion South Carolina Federal Credit Union in North Charleston.

Gose said the idea of the national middle class campaign originated from CUNA's annual survey on the state of the economy and the middle class, which revealed that 54% of the survey's respondents said credit unions are the best place for middle class consumers to deposit their money.

About 1,250 to 1,400 credit union members and nonmembers were surveyed via landline phone, the internet and smartphones. Conducted by a political pollster, the survey's margin of error was plus or minus 4%, according to Gose.

“On average, about 40% of our registered voters are members of credit unions,” Gose said. “Roughly, 23% of registered voters consider credit unions their primary financial institution and it's been that way fairly consistently for about the last 15 years.”

Over the summer, NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger announced that the national trade organization met with both presidential campaigns seeking the candidates' support for credit unions and their members.

What's more, Berger wrote letters to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in August thanking them for their positions to address regulatory burdens.

Berger expressed his appreciation to Clinton for supporting cuts in regulatory red tape for credit unions, which was highlighted in the campaign's platform for small business and a factsheet for supporting credit unions.

“Reducing regulatory burden on credit unions is a top priority of NAFCU,” Berger wrote to Clinton. “On behalf of our nation's 104 million credit union members, we stand ready to work with you in this regard.”

He also thanked Trump for his call to help reduce the nation's regulatory burden. In July during his economic speech in Detroit, the Republican candidate pledged to place a temporary moratorium on new financial regulations. Trump also has repeatedly said that he would repeal and replace the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, according to national media reports.

“Your official support of regulatory relief for credit unions would be welcomed by the credit union community and the nation's 104 million credit union members,” Berger wrote to Trump.

Berger said NAFCU remains focused on ensuring that lawmakers and the next president understand the value credit unions bring to their members and the nation's economy.

Last month, CUNA launched the next phase of the Strong Credit Unions, Strong Middle Class campaign as the 2016 election season entered the presidential and vice presidential debate season.

The national trade group has been working with state league partners and member credit unions to create an online presence to attract attention from the presidential debate organizers who were using Facebook and presidentialopenquestions.com to identify and compile voter questions to ask the candidates for the Town Hall presidential debate on Oct. 9.

On CUNA's campaign website, middleclass2016.com, leagues, credit unions and their members were encouraged to vote for a credit union-related question for it to be asked by one of the moderators. As of the afternoon of Oct. 5, the credit union-related question received more than 4,000 votes. Some of the questions that received the most votes were considered by the moderators.

The credit union-related question was, “Is there an alternative to the big banks on Wall Street? What will you do to grow the community banks and credit unions on Main Street?”

“You can see where Wall Street versus Main Street is a very popular topic that feeds into the anger and the angst with the general public, so I'm surprised we haven't heard more of that issue on the campaign trail,” Dave Adams, president/CEO of the Michigan Credit Union League, said. “Of course it seems that the candidates are doing more to bash each other than they are in talking about any issues.”

Adams said the CUNA middle class campaign is an extension of what credit unions should be doing by telling their stories in their local communities and with their state lawmakers and their federal lawmakers.

“I think, in reality, in an election like this, the candidates and their camps are focused on the messages and the things they need to do to get elected,” he said. “Once one of them prevails, it is a matter for CUNA to work with the new administration to let them know how our policies align with theirs.”

Patrick LaPine, president/CEO of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, said CUNA's middle class campaign is important so that the industry is not forgotten during the election campaign.

“I think CUNA is doing a nice job of raising the awareness of credit unions with the candidates,” LaPine said. “Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have spoken about unnecessary regulations and Clinton has mentioned credit unions by name. I think anything we can do to let them know that we have more than 100 million members and let them know we are watching and have the ability to activate those members, which obviously in a very close election year, could be important in certain states.”