Voters Support Redistributive Economic Policies
By Ethan Winter
As part of an October survey, Data for Progress tested two progressive priorities: a $15 minimum wage and Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 rule which would target federal funding towards communities that face persistent poverty. We find high levels of support for both proposals.
We first asked about the $15 minimum wage. We find that by a 39-percentage-point margin, voters support increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour (64 percent favor an increase, 25 percent want the minimum wage left as is). A majority of both likely voters that self-identify as Democrats (76 percent) and those who self-identify as Independent / Third Party voters also back raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Among likely voters that self-identify as Republican, by a three-point margin, a plurality favor raising the minimum wage.
We then asked about Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan. This rule would require a minimum of ten percent of federal funds of particular federal spending accounts and programs go to communities in which the poverty level has been twenty percent or higher over the past thirty years. We find that likely voters support this idea. Among all likely voters, it’s favored by a 20-point margin (51 percent support the rule, 31 percent think Congress should allocate spending as they see fit). A majority of Democrats (61 percent) back this proposal, supporting it by a 37-point margin. A plurality of both Independents (45 percent) and Republicans (43 percent) do as well.
Likely voters want to raise the wages of American workers. In addition, there’s a widespread support for targeting the resources of the federal government towards communities that face persistent poverty. Democrats both in Congress and White House should feel confident advocating for both these proposals, equipped with the knowledge that majorities in the electorate stand behind them.
Ethan Winter (@EthanBWinter) is an analyst at Data for Progress. You can email him at ethan@dataforprogress.org.
Methodology
From October 24 to October 25, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 979 likely voters nationally 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 ±3.1 percentage points.
Question Wording
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. When thinking about this, what comes closer to your view?
We should increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour
We should leave the minimum wage as is
Don’t know
We should leave the minimum wage as is
All future spending programs should required to direct at least 10% of total investments to counties where at least 20% of the population has lived under the federal poverty line for at least 30 years
Congress should direct federal spending programs however it sees fit
Don’t know