Vice President Joe Biden meets with Democratic governors to discuss raising the minimum wage
First the bad news from Public Policy Polling's latest national survey (
pdf): President Barack Obama still has a net negative job approval rating, with 43 percent approving and 51 percent disapproving, and just 39 percent of voters rated the Obamacare rollout as successful, compared with 56 percent who say it hasn't been.
Those numbers, however, are improvements from previous polling: Obama's numbers are up a net of six points since December and the Obamacare rollout numbers are up a net 13 points since January.
But since neither the president nor Obamacare are on the ballot, this might be the most significant area of improvement: Democrats are now favored on the generic ballot by a 43-40 margin. In January, Republicans led by a 42-40 margin.
PPP also asked about increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and the results are even better than the generic ballot: 56 percent support an increase, compared with just 38 percent who oppose it.
And it is the kind of issue that works well with the country as a whole, with overwhelming support among Democrats, who favor it by an 83-12 margin. Meanwhile, even though Republicans oppose it overall, 29 percent still favor it, so to the extent that it motivates each party's base, it does so in asymmetric fashion.
Those numbers suggest that Democrats really should make it the center of their fall platform—as long as they plan to deliver if they win the election.
The survey was conducted from March 6-9 with a margin of error of ±2.9 percent.
Sign the petition: Join the call for a higher federal minimum wage.