Skip to main content

Poll: Angelenos Support Minimum Wage Hike

Support Provided By

A majority of Los Angeles County voters are in favor of raising the minimum hourly wage to $15.25 and requiring employers to offer paid sick leave, according to a poll released today.

The poll was commissioned by the Raise the Wage campaign, whose members are urging Los Angeles city leaders to approve a minimum wage hike package being debated by the Los Angeles City Council.

The survey, conducted by EMC Research, found that 66 percent of the 1,000 voters surveyed from Jan. 7-15 support raising the wage to $15.25 per hour, increasing the wage to match inflation, requiring earned sick days, and enforcement against wage and labor violations.

The support for the wage increase and the other measures was even greater among the 600 voters who live in the city of Los Angeles, with 69 percent coming out in favor.

Support for raising the minimum wage was spread out across all regions of the city, ethnic populations and age groups, according to the poll.

Those who identified as African American, which accounted for 10 percent of those surveyed, were 84 percent in favor, and 15 percent against raising the minimum wage. People who identified as white -- 37 percent of those polled - -were 57 percent in favor and 39 percent against the wage boost.

The poll also found that the level of support for raising the minimum wage remained steady -- at 68 percent countywide and 71 percent citywide -- even after those polled were given several reasons for opposing raising the minimum wage, including that it would force businesses to close, kill jobs, and increase government spending.

The poll also found that voters prefer raising the minimum wage to $15.25 per hour, over just raising it to the $13.25 per hour that was originally proposed by Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The Los Angeles City Council is debating whether to increase the wage to $13.25 per hour by 2017, and potentially even further to $15.25 per hour by 2019.

The Raise the Wage campaign organized a rally outside Los Angeles City Hall today. One of the groups participating, the LA Workers Assembly, is circulating a petition to put a measure on the May ballot to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.