Most Republicans Say They Can’t Live Off Minimum Wage Yet Still Oppose Raising It

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A poll released by Public Policy Polling on Tuesday reveals that the vast majority of Americans claim that they would be unable to support their households on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The poll also shows that most Americans support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Support for raising the minimum wage varies across partisan lines. However, the vast majority of Republicans (69%) claim that they would not be able to live off of the current minimum wage.

Overall, 75% of respondents agreed that they could not support their households on $7.25 an hour. There is no real partisan divide regarding this, as a large majority of Democrats (80%) and independents (74%), along with Republicans, are of the opinion that the minimum wage is just not enough to survive. Most of those surveyed (74%) also agreed with the notion that full-time workers should not be living in poverty. There was a bit more division along party lines on this, as 88% of Democrats, 69% of Republicans and 63% of independents were in agreement with the statement. However, that still shows that a large consensus, regardless of ideology or political affiliation.

The difference between the parties becomes clearer when it comes to supporting a raise in the minimum wage. When first asked if they support or oppose raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, 54% stated that they support the measure compared to 39% who said they were against it. 74% of Democrats, 49% of independents and 37% of Republicans expressed support. Of those who oppose moving it up to $10.10 an hour, the poll shows 22% of Democrats, 43% of independents and 53% of Republicans saying that is too much.

However, an interesting thing about this particular poll is that after respondents were asked about their support on raising the minimum wage, pollsters then asked some other questions regarding the impacts of today’s current wage. Aside from asking those polled the aforementioned questions regarding full-time workers living in poverty and respondents’ abilities to support themselves on $7.25 an hour, the survey takers also brought up employees for big companies being forced to use government programs to survive due to low wages. When asked if they thought it was fair that large companies were making profits by paying employees low wages and essentially getting subsidies from the government via Medicaid and food stamps, 61% feel that it isn’t fair. Even the majority of Republicans (53%) say that they think it is wrong.

Once those questions were asked, respondents were once again questioned about their support regarding a raise of the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. While support among Democrats stayed relatively the same as before, more Republicans (46%) and independents (54%) jumped on board after being presented with the impacts of a low minimum wage. Overall, after being asked the second time, 60% of Americans support a raise to $10.10 an hour against 35% who oppose it.

The lesson with this poll is that Republicans and conservatives can be convinced that the minimum wage needs to be increased if presented with the facts and the negative effects that a low wage have on their fellow Americans. However, even without having a detailed discussion on the real-world implications of low wages, a significant percentage of Republicans are already in favor of bumping up the minimum wage. This is at least something to be optimistic about and could lead to positive movement in the near future.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).