New York Voters Want a Higher Minimum Wage
By Anika Dandekar and Evangel Penumaka
In New York, minimum wage workers are struggling to afford basic necessities. For decades, wages have not increased to keep up with rapidly rising costs of living, let alone keep up with workforce productivity. Increasing the minimum wage would likely boost all wages, as well as increase workforce participation.
New polling from Data for Progress shows bipartisan support among New York voters for increasing the minimum wage to keep up with living costs. Furthermore, New York voters of all backgrounds say they would be more likely to vote for a political candidate who supports raising the minimum wage.
Support for Increasing the Minimum Wage
We first examined general attitudes toward a living wage in New York. Among all likely voters in New York, 95 percent say the minimum wage should be at least $15 in order to have a living wage, while 62 percent say the minimum wage should be at least $20 to be a living wage. Sixty-two percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Independents, and 56 percent of Republicans believe a living wage in New York is at least $20.
Next, we tested legislative support among New York voters. Over three-quarters (81 percent) of all likely voters would support a bill amending the state’s law to increase the minimum wage each year to keep up with rising costs. Voters across parties support the legislation by large margins. Democrats, Independents, and Republicans back the proposal to increase the minimum wage with net margins of +91, +53, and +32 points, respectively.
We find support remains strong across regions of New York: no less than three-quarters of each region’s likely voters support this proposal to increase the minimum wage. Likely voters in Long Island, the Mid-Hudson, New York City, and Western New York back increases in the minimum wage by respective net margins of +60, +79, +76, and +55 points.
Support for increased wages also extends to adopting a larger increase for New York City, where the minimum wage has been flat at $15 since 2018. We asked New York City voters if they would support, as part of a state minimum wage bill, a proposal to gradually increase the minimum wage in New York City from $15 to $20 by 2025. Likely voters in the city support the proposal by a +71-point margin.
Likeliness to Vote for a Candidate that Supports Increasing the Minimum Wage
The poll also tested how this legislation may impact voters’ political choices. Among all New York voters, 67 percent say they would be more likely to support a candidate this year who supports increasing the minimum wage. This finding holds across parties; 85 percent of Democrats, 53 percent of Independents, and 45 percent (a plurality) of Republicans report they are more likely to vote for a candidate that supports increasing the minimum wage.
Testing Pro-Raise Arguments on Minimum Wage Increases
Lastly, we tested pro-raise arguments against common opposition arguments to increasing the minimum wage, such as claims about increasing prices and job losses. A majority of likely voters in New York prefer the pro-raise argument for increasing the minimum wage — that people will be able to afford basic necessities after working full time — over the opposition argument claiming the minimum wage will increase prices for middle-class families — by a +35-point margin. Democrats and Independents also agree more with the pro-raise argument by respective net margins of +67 and +18 points. Republicans are more split, with 43 percent agreeing with the pro-raise argument and 51 percent agreeing with the opposition one.
Additionally, among all New York voters, we see that a message saying increasing the minimum wage boosts economic productivity and growth outperforms a message that says minimum wage increases will hurt businesses and cost jobs by a net margin of +48 points. New York voters of all parties prefer the economic productivity and growth message over the opposition one. Democrats, Independents, and Republicans support the pro-raise argument here by respective net margins of +75, +40, and +3 points.
Conclusion
These findings make clear both the urgent need and the bipartisan political popularity to increase the minimum wage in New York. Furthermore, stagnating wages are not just a problem in New York. We have previously found bipartisan support for raising the minimum wage nationally. Lawmakers at all levels of government have a duty to ensure the well-being of their constituents and that means ensuring all working people are able to afford the basic costs of living.
Full crosstabs for this poll can be found here.
Anika Dandekar (@AnikaDandekar) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Evangel Penumaka (@evangelpenumaka) is a senior analyst at Data for Progress.