A new Gallup poll shows large majorities of Americans are in favor of both raising the minimum wage and tying it to inflation, with support rising since President Obama first proposed an increase earlier this year.
Tying the nation’s minimum wage to inflation is slightly less popular than increasing the base wage, but is still embraced by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
The internals of the poll verify what our Henry Decker wrote last week, “For Democrats, Raising The Minimum Wage Is Good Policy, Better Politics,” even if the specifics don’t quite match the bill from Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) that’s moving forward in the Senate. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would immediately raise the minimum wage to $8.20 an hour from $7.25, then to $9.15 an hour after one year and $10.10 an hour after two years. It would be tied it to the Consumer Price Index thereafter.
Even Republicans support the president’s proposed increase, but 56 percent oppose tying it to inflation. Independents, however, are in favor of both proposals.
With Harkin and Miller’s bill likely to pass the Senate, the minimum wage increase will join immigration reform and background checks as bills receiving a majority of support in the upper house of Congress that may well never even be voted on by the House of Representatives.
