Poll: Majority support raising the minimum wage

More than two-thirds of those asked support a "robust" increase in the minimum wage, according to a recent poll. 

About 67 percent support gradually raising the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to at least $10 an hour, and automatically adjusting or “indexing” it each year so that it keeps pace with the cost of living, according to the poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.

"Americans overwhelmingly support a minimum wage rate that will help working families make ends meet and provide the boost the economy needs for full recovery," said Christine Owens, executive director, National Employment Law Project, (NELP) in a release Wednesday. 

In the same survey, 48 percent say the economy is in worse shape than it was a year ago, 19 percent say it's better and 32 percent said it's about the same. 

When asked about certain issues, 45 percent said the economy was the most important issue for them in the mid-term elections. Second was healthcare at 20 percent, 10 percent for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 9 percent on the federal budget deficit. 

On the minimum wage, NELP says it would be higher than $10 an hour if it had kept pace with the cost of living during the past 40 years.  Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have raised their minimum wages above the federal level and 10 states automatically adjust their minimum wages each year to rise with the cost of living, according to NELP. 

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that last year's 70-cent increase in the federal minimum wage generated $5.5 billion in new consumer spending.

“We need to be focusing on ways to boost consumer spending to bolster economic growth, and a strong minimum wage is a key part of that strategy,” said Owens.