Pollster Mallory Newall on Thursday said a majority of voters in all age groups agree that the minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour.
“You have broad support across all age groups for raising the minimum wage either right away to $15 an hour, or gradually to $15 an hour,” Newall, who is research director at Ipsos Public Affairs, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”
A Hill-HarrisX poll released Thursday found that 55 percent of adults under the age of 35 said the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour, a view shared by 58 percent of respondents between the ages of 35 and 49, and 51 percent of those aged 50 to 64.
Fifty-six percent of respondents over the age of 65 also said the minimum wage should be increased.
“There’s no real difference when you look at young people versus older people,” Newall said, adding that young people already face financial burdens without a higher minimum wage.
“You have people — whether they are burdened by student loan debt, whether they’re moving more frequently to urban centers, whatever the cause is — they are putting less back into the economy,” she said. “They’re not buying homes, they’re not buying cars as much as our parents’ generations or previous generations.”
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation this month that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024.
— Julia Manchester
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