Fifty-eight percent of people in a new poll say they support raising the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $10 an hour.
The poll was conducted by Marketing Resource Group and Mitchell Research and Communications, and commissioned by Inside Michigan Politics.
Bill Ballenger is with Inside Michigan Politics. He says it made sense to do the poll now, given the push on both the national and state level on the issue.
Sttate Representative Rashida Tlaib has introduced a bill that would raise Michigan's minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $10.00 an hour by the year 2016.
"Whether or not they're going to be taken seriously by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate remains to be seen," he notes.
However, Ballenger points out the last time the minimum wage was increased in Michigan, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. He says they introduced and passed a bill raising the minimum wage to keep Democrats from putting the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.
Support for the issue differs greatly depending on political party affiliation.
92% of Democrats support a minimum wage hike; only 27% of Republicans do.
Ballinger says usually, people making above $100,000 a year are far less supportive of a minimum wage hike than people who make less.
However, in this poll, about 47% of higher-wage earners supported a pay hike for people getting minimum wage.
