 The survey, conducted by public opinion polling company Public Policy Polling
(PPP), asked more than 800 likely Illinois voters if they believed the state
should raise its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
Sixty one percent of respondents said they do support the measure to increase
the minimum wage, while 33 percent responded with opposition. The remaining 6
percent were unsure.
The effort to increase the wage has support across party lines, with 85 percent
of Democrats, 57 percent of independents and 29 percent of Republican
respondents in support of the increase.
Voters will have a chance to make their opinion known in November, as they’ll
find an advisory referendum on their ballots on Election Day asking whether the
minimum wage should be raised to $10.10 an hour.
State Sen. Matt Murphy, R–Palatine, speaking on a potential minimum wage
increase, said, “I believe this will hurt the very people we’re trying to help.”
“Most people think raising the minimum wage just means more of their neighbors
make more money,” Murphy said, explaining Illinoisans’ support. “But it has
ripple effects. Stuff will cost more. Jobs will be lost. Fewer people will be
hired.”
While the national minimum wage requirement is $7.25 an hour, some states have
wage floors much higher. Illinois’ current minimum wage is $8.25 an hour,
placing it higher than all but four other states.
Kim Maisch is the state director for the Illinois chapter of the National
Federation of Independent Businesses and said raising the minimum wage is a bad
idea for Illinois.
“Employers only have so much money to spend on labor,” Maisch said. “When the
labor costs go up, many will be forced to slow or stop hiring. The vast majority
of small businesses in the state are against an increased minimum wage because
of this.”
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 Maisch also said most people wouldn’t be
willing to pay the increased prices for goods caused by the
increased cost of labor.
“If significantly increasing the minimum wage causes the price of
hamburgers to go up significantly, people will just look elsewhere
or order more products online and pay less again,” she said.
State Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, says she supports the minimum
wage increase and said it should be higher.
“I support raising it to at least the $15 an hour being discussed in
Chicago,” Flowers said. “These people can’t make a living on the
current minimum wage. We’re allowing single mothers to live in
poverty just because the law sets their salary too low.”
Flowers said that if businesses don’t pay their employees more, the
state has an obligation to take action.
“It’s our responsibility to ensure people can make a decent and fair
living,” the representative said. “There’s no excuse for the amount
of poverty we see in Chicago and in other places across the state.”
PPP surveyed 812 likely voters between Oct. 12 and 14, and the study
has a margin of error of +/-3.4 percent.
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
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