Americans Say It's Important To Raise Minimum Wage

The current Republican-controlled Congress has ignored the plight of workers who make at or near the minimum wage (set by the federal government at $7.25 and hour). They were far more interested in providing tax cuts for the richest Americans -- the only people that did not need that help.

It showed that the Republicans didn't care for American workers. They didn't care that soon about 20% of the American work force will be working at/near the minimum wage -- a wage that keeps workers in poverty even when working a full-time job.

That's not what the public wants though. About 46% say it's very important that the new Congress raise the minimum wage, and another 26% say it somewhat important. Only 28% agree with the Republicans that raising the minimum wage is not important. The numbers are similar for registered voters. And in fact, all demographic groups have a significant majority saying it is at least somewhat important to raise the minimum wage (and either a plurality or majority saying it is very important).

We can argue about how much the minimum wage should be raised, but we are long overdue for it to be raised -- and Americans know it. They want Congress to act. I think the new Democratic-controlled House will pass a bill to raise the minimum wage. Will the Republican-controlled Senate agree? If they don't, they will incur the wrath of the voting public (which is already not happy with the Republicans, as the last election showed).

The chart above reflects the results of a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between November 18th and 20th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,328 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 3.3 points, and for registered voters is 2.9 points.