Two out of three small business owners (67%) support increasing the federal minimum wage and adjusting it yearly to keep up with the cost of living. The strong support for a minimum wage raise is particularly striking since the small business owners are predominately Republican. The poll was conducted March 4-10, 2013 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research on behalf of Small Business Majority. The minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour, was last increased in 2009.

The poll shows 65% of small business owners agree that “increasing the minimum wage will help the economy because the people with the lowest incomes are the most likely to spend any pay increases buying necessities they could not afford before, which will boost sales at businesses. This will increase the customer demand that businesses need to retain or hire more employees.”

Other key poll findings include:

• 85% of small business owners pay all of their employees more than the minimum wage.
• 65% of small business owners agree “It is not right that people working full time earn just $15,080 a year at the minimum wage, which is significantly lower than it was in the 1960s, adjusting for inflation. Increasing the minimum wage would allow people to afford basic necessities and decrease the pressure on taxpayer-financed government assistance to make up for the low wages paid by some employers.”
• 46% of small business owners surveyed identified themselves as Republican, 35% identified as Democrat and 11% identified as independent.

To view the Small Business Majority poll findings summary visit http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/minimum-wage/

Full Poll Report: http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/downloads/042413-minimum-wage-poll-report.pdf