Liberal Wedge Issues, Part I

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center identifies not two, but nine discrete political ideologies which they call "typology groups." Included are liberals and conservatives, but also "enterprisers" (rich supply-siders), the "disaffecteds" (the alienated) and "bystanders" (the disinterested). There are even sharp differences within the conservative (social v. fiscal) and liberal (conservative Democrats v. disadvantaged Democrats) labels. It's a great study, you should all read it to see the diversity of opinions in the country.

But they all agree on one thing.

An increase in the minimum wage, from $5.15 an hour to $6.45 an hour…

Nationwide Total: 12% oppose, 86% favor

Enterprisers: 49%-46%
Social Conservatives 18%-79%
Pro-Government Conservatives 5%-94%
Upbeats 11%-86%
Disaffecteds 13%-84%
Bystanders 7%-92%
Conservative Democrats 6%-92%
Disadvantaged Democrats 3%-95%
Liberals 5%-94%

Only the old-money "Enterprisers" oppose raising the minimum wage, and only by a thin plurality. With every other group it's 79% and higher support.

That's the makings of a major wedge issue for the Democrats, and they appear to be taking notice. The state parties have taken the lead: (via The Next Hurrah):

More states are raising their minimum wages, pushing hourly rates above $7 in some and shrinking the role of the federal minimum wage, which hasn't gone up in eight years.

Eleven states have raised their rates since January 2004, and Wisconsin will become the 12th on Wednesday. Employers there must pay at least $5.70 an hour through June 2006, when the minimum wage rises again to $6.50 an hour.

In all, 17 states and the District of Columbia — covering 45% of the U.S. population — have set minimums above the federal rate of $5.15. That has helped cut the number of workers earning the minimum or less (for those earning tips) from 4.8 million in 1997 to 2 million last year, or 2.7% of hourly earners, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

“The federal government is not living up to its responsibility, so the states are acting,” says New Jersey state Sen. Steve Sweeney, a Democrat who sponsored a law that will raise the state's minimum...

And it looks like the national leaders are understanding how to play the wedge-issue game:

New Year's Day will bring the ninth straight year in which the federal minimum wage has remained frozen at $5.15 an hour, marking the second-longest period that the nation has had a stagnant minimum wage since the standard was established in 1938.

Against that backdrop, Democrats are preparing ballot initiatives in states across the country to boost turnout of Democratic-leaning voters in 2006. Labor, religious, and community groups have launched efforts to place minimum-wage initiatives on ballots in Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Arkansas, and Montana next fall.

Democrats say the minimum wage could be for them what the gay-marriage referendums were in key states for Republicans last year -- an easily understood issue that galvanizes their supporters to show up on Election Day.

This is a moral values issue that doesn't demonize a member of society for who they are or what they do with their private life. This is a simple issue that says "if you work for a living, if you're on time every day and you satisfy your obligations for 40 hours a week, you should be able to have enough money to buy food and put clothes on your back." That is not pie-in-the-sky hippie logic: it's simply an expression valuing the work that's done in this country. We all come into contact with many minimum-wage workers every single day. An effective ad campaign would highlight that.

Battlepanda noted last month that the doomsayers who predicted job cuts and economic hardship as a result of Florida's 2004 minimum wage increase
were, er, wrong:

Seventy-one percent of Florida voters passed the increase, and since the new minimum wage was implemented in May, retail stores and restaurants have added tens of thousands of employees.
"I don't think it's going to kill jobs because you need the people to do the work no matter what," said Walter, owner of Highland Park Furniture, which has a license to use the trade name Macy's Furniture & Mattress Clearance Center. "But it might hurt profits, and it sounds better to say it's going to hurt jobs than hurt profits."

Success stories like this are hard to rebut. I'd rather try to squeeze the other side by asking that people be paid a fair wage for their work than by demanding that gay people not be allowed marry. That's why I'm a Democrat.