Nearly Half Of U.S. Businesses Would Support Higher A Minimum Wage

The president has said he would support raising the minimum wage to $9.00 or $10.00 an hour, and congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to do that. They recognize that the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour leaves many workers in poverty, even though they work hard in a full-time job, and represents a drop of over 30% in buying power for the minimum wage since 1968.

But congressional Republicans oppose that legislation. They claim raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses, and result in a new round of lay-offs. That is a false argument though. It shouldn't hurt business, because it would affect all of them equally and wouldn't give any a special advantage or disadvantage. And numerous reports have shown that raising the minimum wage does not cost jobs. In fact, it may have the opposite effect. The masses would have more money to spend -- and that would result in higher profits (which could boost job creation).

A recent Gallup Poll (taken between October 23rd and 29th of a random national sample of 605 small business owners, with a 4 point margin of error) shows that a significant number of business owners don't agree with the Republicans. Nearly half (47%) say they would support a raising of the minimum wage to at least $9.50 an hour, while 50% say they would oppose it. Considering the margin of error, that's a dead heat.

But it gets even better. Note in the second chart above that a majority of the business owners don't think it would cause the negative effects predicted by Republicans. About 64% say they would not reduce their workforce, 60% say they would not have to reduce worker benefits, and 54% say they would not have to reduce their capital spending.

This has to be worrying for the GOP. They count on small business being on their side, since the general public isn't, with 76% of the public supporting a higher minimum wage (more than 3 out of every 4 people). Once again, the Republicans find themselves on the wrong side of an issue -- an issue that is very popular with voters.