Most Americans support a $15 federal minimum wage
Activists hold signs calling for Congress to includes a $15 federal minimum wage in a a COVID-19 relief bill outside the U.S. Capitol complex in Washington on Feb. 25, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

About six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea. About four-in-ten (38%) say they oppose the proposal, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 5-11.

The Biden administration and many congressional Democrats favor increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current rate of $7.25 an hour, but the proposalโ€™s fate in the Senate is uncertain. Some senators, including several Democrats, support a more modest increase in the wage.

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this study understand Americansโ€™ views on raising the standard federal minimum wage. For this analysis, we surveyed 5,109 U.S. adults in April 2021. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Centerโ€™s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPโ€™s methodology.

Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Among the public, those who back a $15 minimum wage are fairly divided over how to approach the issue if there is insufficient support in Congress for an increase to that amount this year. A narrow majority of these Americans (54%) say leaders should focus on passing an increase to the wage โ€œeven if it may be significantly less than $15 an hour,โ€ while 43% say the priority should be to work to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 โ€œeven if no increase makes it into law this year.โ€

Among those who oppose raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a substantial majority (71%) say the federal minimum wage should be increased, but that the standard should be less than $15 an hour; those who hold this view account for 27% of the overall public. Only one-in-ten Americans in all say that federal minimum wage should remain at the current level of $7.25 an hour.

Support for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is extensive across most demographic groups, according to the survey, which was conducted among 5,109 U.S. adults.

Black adults in particular stand out for their support: 89% favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 73% who support the idea strongly.

About three-quarters of Hispanic (76%) and Asian Americans (73%) also favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, with 52% of Hispanics and 43% of Asians saying they strongly support the idea.

White adults, by contrast, are divided: 51% favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour โ€“ including just 30% who strongly favor it โ€“ while 48% oppose it.

About seven-in-ten adults who live in lower-income households (72%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including about half (52%) who strongly favor such an increase. Smaller majorities of those in middle- (58%) and upper-income households (55%) say they favor a $15 minimum wage.

There are sharp partisan differences in opinions. While 87% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they favor increasing the wage to $15 an hour (including 61% who strongly favor it), 72% of Republicans and GOP leaners oppose the idea (including 45% who strongly oppose it).

People living in areas where the state-level minimum wage is currently $12 or higher are more likely than others to say they favor a federal increase to $15 an hour. About seven-in-ten adults in these places (69%) favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, compared with 59% of those living in places with a minimum wage of less than $12 an hour.

While Democrats are largely united in their support for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Republicansโ€™ views differ by household income.

Lower-income Republicans (46%) are much more likely than middle- (23%) and upper-income Republicans (18%) to say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Still, a majority of lower-income Republicans (54%) say they oppose such an increase.

Similarly, Republicans who live in areas where the state minimum wage is $12 or higher are slightly more likely than those living in places where the $7.25 federal minimum wage applies to say they favor raising the federal minimum to $15 an hour (32% vs. 25%).

Related post: When it comes to raising the minimum wage, most of the action is in cities and states, not Congress

What should happen if Congress lacks support for a $15 minimum wage?

More than half of Americans who favor a $15 federal minimum wage (54%) say that if there is not enough congressional support for such an increase this year, Congress should prioritize increasing the wage even if the new wage is significantly less than $15.

These views differ by race and ethnicity, as well as by income. A majority of Black adults who favor a $15 standard (55%) say that if there is not sufficient support in Congress for that to pass, congressional leaders should continue to work for a $15 minimum wage even if no minimum wage increase becomes law this year. Half of Hispanic adults who back the $15 wage also express this view.

By contrast, 36% of White adults who favor a $15 minimum wage say Congress should keep pressing for that amount. A majority of White supporters of a $15 federal minimum wage, by contrast, say Congress should work for an increase in the minimum wage even if it is less than $15 an hour.

Lower-income adults who favor a $15 minimum wage are divided on the better approach if there is inadequate support in Congress for the proposal this year: 49% say congressional leaders should prioritize any raise to the minimum that can happen this year, while an identical 49% share say leaders should continue working until they pass legislation raising the wage to $15 an hour.

Among higher-income adults who support a $15 minimum wage, majorities say the priority for Congress should be to work to increase the minimum wage, even if the new wage is significantly less than $15 an hour.

Amina Dunn  is a former research analyst focusing on U.S. politics and policy at Pew Research Center.