Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its state and local affiliates have vigorously campaigned against raising the minimum wage. This is done by harping on the usual shibboleths: raising the minimum will drive people out of business, cost thousands of jobs and generally wreck the economy.
However, a survey by the polling firm of LuntzGlobal of 1,000 business executives that was recently leaked to the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the overwhelming percentage of those execs support raising the minimum. LuntzGlobal is run by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. Here is the poll.
CMD has posted video of a closed-door webinar of the polling firm instructing Chamber of Commerce lobbyists to ignore polling showing that Chamber members nationwide support progressive not only workplace policies such as raising the minimum wage, but also providing paid sick days and paid family leave. Lydia DePillis at The Washington Post’s wonkblog reports:
Among the most interesting findings: 80 percent of respondents said they supported raising their state's minimum wage, while only eight percent opposed it.
"That’s where it’s undeniable that they support the increase,” LuntzGlobal managing director David Merritt told state chamber executives in a webinar describing the results, noting that it squares with other polling they’ve done. “And this is universal. If you’re fighting against a minimum wage increase, you’re fighting an uphill battle, because most Americans, even most Republicans, are okay with raising the minimum wage.”
State chambers have generally been opposed to raising the minimum wage, but it hasn’t been a particularly high priority for them because the members tend to be concentrated in manufacturing and other high-wage industries, and they have therefore left businesses whose majority of employees earn low wages—retailers, restaurants, hotels—to fend for themselves when governments seek to raise the minimum.
From the perspective of workers—even those who already make above minimum wage—plans like those in California and New York to raise the minimum to $15 an hour means more money in their pocket as the ripple effects spread. Lawrence Mischel and David Cooper point out at the Economic Policy Institute:
The Berkeley Labor Center estimates that 5.6 million workers—or the entire bottom third of the California workforce—would benefit from the California increase (excluding those already helped by various city initiatives). EPI’s analysis estimates that 3.2 million workers, or 37 percent of the New York workforce, would benefit from a statewide increase to $15, although the number affected by the current proposal would be less, given the smaller wage hike in the upstate region.
The leaked LuntzGlobal material provides plenty of ammo with which to confront the opposition to raises.