A Majority of Arizona Voters Want to Raise the Minimum Wage to $15
By Lew Blank
On March 7, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was one of just eight Democrats to vote against adding a $15 an hour minimum wage to the American Rescue Plan. She did so in dramatic fashion, displaying a thumbs-down as she cast her “no” vote.
In a recent poll with MoveOn, we tested whether Sinema’s “no” vote was in line with the preferences of Arizona voters. We find that it wasn’t — a strong majority of Arizona voters support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour (61 percent support, 37 percent opposed). This includes Democrats by an overwhelming 79-point margin and Independents by a 9-point margin. While a majority of Republicans oppose the proposal, they do so by only a 19-point margin.
Importantly, we find that Sen. Sinema’s opposition to the $15 minimum wage isn’t just an afterthought for many voters — it could cost her when she’s up for reelection in 2024.
In our survey, we asked Arizona voters how they’d react if Sinema opposed or watered down the stimulus bill because she disagreed with one of its provisions (such as the $15 minimum wage). We found that by a 21-point margin, voters said this would make them less likely to vote for her, including a clear majority of Democrats (43-point margin) and Independents (25-point margin) and a plurality of Republicans (6-point margin).
The verdict is clear: in Arizona, voting to raise the minimum wage is the smartest political move.
Arizona Voters Support the American Rescue Plan
We also tested Arizona voters’ views on the American Rescue Plan overall, and found overwhelming support for the $1.9 trillion relief package. When informed that the stimulus “includes money for vaccines and testing, another round of stimulus payments, expanded unemployment benefits, and other pandemic-related measures,” Arizona voters support it by a 47-point margin, including a near-unanimous 88-point margin of Democrats, a solid 44-point margin of Independents, and even an 8-point margin of Republicans.
We also found strong support for one of the most impactful elements of the American Rescue Plan: the expanded child tax credit, which the Urban Institute estimates would — combined with the other provisions of the bill — cut child poverty in half. Our polling finds a 17-point margin of support for the child tax credit increase.
Arizona Voters Support More Stimulus
Although the American Rescue Plan was a highly ambitious piece of legislation, Congress can do more in the next relief package to make its programs more expansive. Perhaps most importantly, Congress can increase the amount it provides in unemployment insurance benefits from the current $300 per week to $600 per week — the level provided under the CARES Act signed in March of last year. Doubling the level of federal assistance to unemployed Americans would help millions of families make ends meet. Congress should also use automatic stabilizers to keep these benefits in place until the end of the pandemic so that families aren’t left helpless due to gridlock in our federal government.
In our survey, we asked Arizona voters whether they’d support or oppose an extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits, and keeping these benefits in place until the unemployment rate returns to pre-pandemic levels. We find a 26-point margin of support for this proposal.
We also asked Arizona voters whether they’d favor providing stimulus checks of $2,000 per month to every American for the duration of the pandemic. A 26-point margin of voters support this proposal, including strong majorities of Democrats and Independents and nearly half of Republicans.
Conclusion
Arizona voters are overwhelmingly satisfied with the American Rescue Plan, and they support bold new relief proposals — including a $600 per week boost in unemployment benefits, monthly $2,000 checks, and the $15 minimum wage — to expand it. To better represent Arizona voters and maximize her chances of winning reelection, Sen. Sinema should embrace the $15 minimum wage and push for more stimulus.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a senior writer at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology:
From February 19 to February 22, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 662 likely voters in Arizona using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.