Poll: Less than One-Third of Americans Believe Minimum Wage Should Be $15 or Higher

A plurality of Americans believe raising the minimum wage would help the economy, but less than one-third believe it should be raised to $15 or more — the figure Democrats consistently push — a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday showed.

Rasmussen asked respondents if raising the hourly minimum wage would help or hurt the economy. Forty-eight percent said it would help the economy, followed by 33 percent who said it would hurt the economy, ten percent who said it would have no impact, and nine percent who remain unsure.

Opinions are sharply divided on party lines, as 70 percent of Democrats said it would help the economy, compared to 52 percent of Republicans, who said it would hurt the economy. A plurality of those unaffiliated with either party, 41 percent, said it would help, and 34 percent disagreed.

While a plurality across the board agrees a minimum wage hike would help the economy, there is no consensus about what the minimum wage should be. When asked what that figure should be “in the area where you live,” 31 percent said it should be $15 or greater. Just more than one-fifth in that group, or 21 percent, chose $15 per hour. Seventeen percent said it should be $12.50, followed by 16 percent who said $10.50, 16 percent who said $9.50, and 14 percent who said $7.25.

Democrats in Congress have continued to stump for a $15 minimum wage as the Biden White House continues to court members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).

White House chief of staff Ron Klain met with leaders of the CPC last month, during which time they presented several of their priorities for future legislation and reportedly urged the administration to make a $15 minimum wage a reality.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is among the $15 minimum wage proponents, but she has cast it as a “deep” compromise.

“Because when you take the minimum wage from several decades ago and you actually account for inflation and productivity gains to today, it should be $24 an hour,” she said during an appearance on The Mehdi Hasan Show:

“Any person who thinks that a $15 minimum wage is the ‘crazy socialist agenda’ is living in a dystopian capitalist nightmare.” –@AOC pic.twitter.com/yIUw1NyQco

— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) March 1, 2021

A report in February from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did not bode well for $15 minimum wage supporters. Analyzing the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the wage to $15 by 2025, the CBO found it would “increase the federal budget deficit by $54 billion between 2021 and 2031” and reduce employment by roughly 1.4 million jobs, as Breitbart News detailed.

The survey, taken April 7-8 among 1,000 U.S. adults, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.