WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Associated Press-GfK poll suggests most Americans support increasing the minimum wage, as well as requiring employers to provide paid sick leave and parental leave.
All three were proposed by President Barack Obama during his recent State of the Union address as ways to increase protections for American workers. But the poll also found that most Americans don't approve of the job Obama is doing helping the middle class.
Sixty percent or more of those surveyed support the proposals. Among Republicans, about half support requiring employers to give paid sick leave and 55 percent support a requirement for paid parental leave. But the minimum wage divides Republicans more closely, with only 4 in 10 in favor, 31 percent opposed and 27 percent not leaning either way.
Obama's workplace proposals were part of a set of measures he says will help strengthen the middle class. Seventy-two percent of respondents say the government does too little to help the middle class.
