Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Left: Carolyn Kaster/AP. Right: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images.)

Ignoring a group of voters is no way to win their support.

But ignoring is what the Republican presidential hopefuls have done to a federal union, and by extension to federal employees, by refusing to answer a campaign questionnaire.

In December, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) sent a dozen questions to a dozen candidates, two Democrats and 10 Republicans. IFPTE represents government and other workers, and the questions extended beyond the federal workplace. It’s no surprise Democrats have more in common with the union faithful. But no response from any of the Republicans shows no respect for the concerns of federal employees and other unionized people, including the independents and Republicans among them.

Candidates get many requests to answer questionnaires and it’s not unusual for some to be ignored. But which get answered says something about the candidates’ priorities, efforts to stimulate potential supporters and how serious they are about reaching beyond their base to other segments of the electorate.

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders did respond to the IFTPE and displayed their similar — though not exactly the same — pro-worker, pro-union stances. They also expressed support for union-backed positions that apply specifically to federal employees.

Here are some of the questions to the candidates and a summary of their answers, which IFPTE recently released.

One sweeping question asked whether the candidates would “actively work to preserve the collective bargaining, Title V Civil Service protections, pay and Veteran’s Preference of federal employees, as well as work to ensure that there will be no more cuts to federal employee pensions, and that federal workers will receive pay raises commensurate to the services they provide the American taxpaying public?”

Sanders said yes and took the opportunity to stand up for the federal workforce: “For far too long, the extreme right wing has demonized, belittled, and sought to destroy the federal workforce. That is wrong, that is unconscionable, and that has got to change. The fact of the matter is that no other worker has been asked to sacrifice more on the altar of deficit reduction than our federal workers.”

Clinton supports “appropriate pay raises,” opposes “across-the-board arbitrary pay freezes” and recalled the three-year freeze on basic federal pay rates: “I saw how difficult it was for employees to be told that even though they were working hard and their living costs were going up, their paychecks were not. The government is not going to be able to recruit and retain the high-caliber employees it needs if it does not pay federal employees fairly for their work.”

The group asked whether candidates supported the the Employee Free Choice Act, which would facilitate union organizing by allowing a majority of workers to choose a union through a sign-up system rather than an election.

Sanders said: “Absolutely. … One of the most significant reasons for the 40-year decline in the middle class is that the rights of workers to collectively bargain for better wages and benefits have been severely undermined. It’s time for low-wage workers, including caregivers, to organize.”